Tag Archives: low-income neighbourhoods

Bayshore-Belltown residents face blending barriers with vaccination and job income

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A nurse injects a vaccine dose to a man sitting in a chair in the hallway.
A nurse administers a COVID-19 vaccine dose to a Bayshore-Belltown resident outside their room during door-to-door community outreach. [Photo courtesy of Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre]
Local health workers continue to tackle barriers to COVID-19 vaccines in Bayshore-Belltown, a neighbourhood with some of the lowest vaccination rates and income in Ottawa.

According to an analysis of the Ottawa Neighbourhood Study, 71 per cent of Bayshore-Belltown residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Residents also make an average job income of $24,326. Bayshore-Belltown ranks fourth to last among all Ottawa neighbourhoods with data for both categories, according to the analysis.

Rockliffe Park has the highest median job income at $60,158 while Vars has more than 100 per cent of residents with two doses of the COVID-19 vaccination, likely due to an increased population of new residents in the neighbourhood since the last population estimate, according to the analysis.

Health promoters with the Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre and an Ottawa Public Health spokesperson say inequitable access and concerns with job security tell part of the story with lower vaccination rates and incomes.

“Being someone in a low-income bracket means that you don’t have the same flexibility to miss work for a vaccine appointment,” says Robynn Collins, a health promoter with the Pinecrest-Queensway centre.

Paid sick days are available for those with side effects from the vaccine, but whether low-income earners use those days is another dilemma, Collins says.

“It doesn’t mean that people are taking them just because they have the right,” she says. “If they don’t show up for their shift at the restaurant, their shift will get filled by someone else and they’re in a precarious position.”

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Above: This interactive map shows average job income and COVID-19 vaccination data by neighbourhood. Open the side panel to see the legend; the shades of blue represent the income while the circle sizes represent vaccination percentages. Bayshore-Belltown is at the bend of the city limits next to the white terrain. Click on the neighbourhoods for exact data.

Lower incomes are still only one of many barriers affecting some residents across Bayshore-Belltown and the city.

The many barriers are connected and constantly in flux depending on the day, says Moniela von Conruhds, another health promoter with the centre.

Collins lists housing, healthy food, digital equity, transportation and adequate childcare as some other examples of barriers that make it difficult to book an appointment or access a vaccine clinic.

In an emailed response, Ottawa Public Health spokesperson Lisa Cross said there are also barriers with misinformation, lack of trust, inequitable access to information and mixed messaging.

“The vaccine is promising, and we’re seeing that more people are taking the vaccine,” Collins says. “However, the disparities still exist that threaten the health of these communities.”

Collins and Von Conruhds say the Bayshore-Belltown neighbourhood – which stretches from the Bayshore Shopping Centre to the Ottawa River by Andrew Haydon Park and the Britannia Woods area – consists of a diverse group of people.

“It’s one of the most densely populated areas within our city of new Canadians,” Collins says. She says there are 82 languages spoken within the Pinecrest-Queensway coverage area as well.

Collins also says there are many racialized residents and single-parent households with multiple responsibilities and in some cases, multiple jobs in the community.

In an effort to increase vaccinated residents, the Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre works in partnership with Ottawa Community Housing, the Boys and Girls Club, the Britannia Woods Community House, Ottawa Public Health, religious leaders and many more people to do community outreach and ease concerns about getting the vaccine.

Health promoters, translators and nurses go door-knocking to share information about the vaccine and to administer a dose if the residents consent to it as one part of community outreach, which has increased the vaccination rates. There are also Zoom sessions in different languages for people to ask questions, newsletters, social media engagement, and more.

“We do a whole bunch of things to let people know we’re in the community, what’s available, when it’s available, and they can get ahold of us at any time,” Von Conruhds said.

Collins says she feels in solidarity with everybody involved in battling the lengthy COVID-19 pandemic.

“It makes you feel part of this really historically magnificent moving machine,” Collins says. “Nobody really quite knows how to operate it because we’ve never had to run it before. So we’re inventing constantly as we go.”

For more information about the Pinecrest-Queensway Health Centre’s services and outreach, visit their website.

 

Albion-Heatherington revitalization not realized yet, say residents

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Since the neighbourhood of Albion-Heatherington gained the attention of city council — and city funds — improvements have been made to one of the lowest-income areas in Ottawa in the last year, say some residents.

But revitalizing a part of the city that has an individual low-income rate of 34 per cent, will take more than the attention of councillors.

“I’ve seen the difference over the past decade. I would say they have tried- I feel perfectly safe,” said resident Yolande McMillan. “But yes, there is some crime.”

The average low-income rate is about twelve per cent for all of Ottawa, according to data from the 2011 National Household Survey, compiled by Statistics Canada, meaning Heatherington’s is almost three times higher than average.

Over the past year, a lens has been placed on the neighbourhood as it’s one of three areas the City of Ottawa has picked for a revitalization project, titled Building Better Revitalized Neighbourhoods, approved in March.

The project specifically targets low-income neighbourhoods, including Carlington and Vanier South.

On Oct 19, the city announced Heatherington will be the subject of a revitalization study, one that will cost $250,000. It’s the result of the work of Diane Deans, councillor for Gloucester-Southgate, who called for the city to bring specific attention to Heatherington over the past year and a half.

Funding for the neighbourhood also came this year after Deans submitted a project proposal for federal funding- for a community kitchen to be added on to the Albion-Heatherington Recreation Centre.



The recreation centre boasts programs for youth and children with a basketball court inside. On any given night you can hear balls bouncing and shoes screeching on the court.

McMillan has lived in the neighbourhood for ten years and often walks her dog behind the centre. Nearby is a local park nestled between several apartments and housing units.

The primary reason for moving to the area was diversity of people- which may not be as present in other Ottawa neighbourhoods, she said.



She believes the city has made major improvements that benefit children in the area specifically.

“They are cleaning the parks on a weekly basis. They tore down the Herongate Mall and are putting up new housing on the other side of the street,” said McMillan.

In the summertime, you can often see children playing in the parks, and an ice rink is set up near the recreation centre in the winter, she said.

The Albion Heatherington Recreation Centre received funding for a community kitchen earlier this year. Photo by Olivia Bowden.
The Albion Heatherington Recreation Centre received funding for a community kitchen earlier this year. Photo by Olivia Bowden.

Some business owners and workers in the area continue to be wary of crime in the neighbourhood.

Yj Zhung works at the local Dollarpal near Heatherington Road, in Walkley Plaza. She said most of the customers at the store are low-income families in the area.

Zhung said she does feel uneasy sometimes-as fights sometimes occur in the plaza parking lot. “This area specifically is not very safe. The police come a lot,” she said.

She often sees teenagers roaming the neighbourhood- as not enough community activities seem to exist. More of these via the community centre, could help.

In the same plaza, Mo Ali works at Bullo Wireless and Exchange Ltd, a tech shop, as a part time owner. On one of the plaza walls is a community graffiti mural, with “community is a shared responsibility” written on it.

He said he likes working in the neighbourhood- but would not want his children to live here.

Crime remains a worry, say residents of the Albion-Heatherington neighbourhood. Photo by Olivia Bowden.
Crime remains a worry, say residents of the Albion-Heatherington neighbourhood. Photo by Olivia Bowden.

“If my kids were here, I’d feel uncomfortable,” he said. “They should have a better recreation centre, or another place where they can play basketball.”

Mentioning the new community kitchen, Ali agrees that this is a good use of resources. But it’s still not enough, he said.

Without enough of these public spaces, kids play on the street and witness drug deals that happen nearby, he said.

“They stand in the plaza sometimes, selling stuff,” said Ali. “The police need to do something about that.”
Earlier this month four were arrested for several swarmings involving robbery that occurred near the recreation centre. Ali said he is in favour of a heavier police presence in the neighbourhood.



Above is a map of Ottawa Census Tracts. Click on each shaded area to learn the percentage of low-income individuals in that neighbourhood. Darker shades indicate a higher percentage. It’s important to note that several low-income neighbourhoods are next to high-income neighbourhoods. All data is from the 2011 National Household survey compiled by Statistics Canada.