The Elms is among the neighborhood regions in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Islington Avenue and Humber River are on the west and east of the elms respectively. Thistledown is on the north of elms while highway 401 lies to the south of the Elms. Apart from that, Ward 2 North Etobicoke is among the neighborhoods of the elms. According to the National Household Survey of Statistics Canada held in 2011, the Elms Old Rexdale has a population of 9437 with the majority of groups being lone parent families and under age 19 years (City of Toronto 3). The elms harbor the majority as visible minorities and immigrants, who speak Italian, Spanish and Urdu languages. A relatively small distinguishing characteristic explains the difference between male and female people in the elms; considering that the majority of males usually search for employment opportunities in other cities, the remaining population comprise of female people. Those who are not a visible minority and blacks forms 43.7% and 22% forms the major ethnic communities living in the elms, while Filipinos and Asians forms the groups that comprise of the least in terms of ethnicity (City of Toronto 4).
According to the Toronto, community health, profile partnerships, more males than women are at risk of suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, while female take the lead in illness related to asthma and mental illnesses. In the windshield survey conducted to establish the endowment level in terms of natural resources, monumental structures and other building, the community perception was negative in the sense that, most of the residence in the elms new that the survey was out to jeopardize or restrict them from enjoying their resources as they initially used to do. Considering that 36% of the population is immigrants, they did not saw the need of the survey because to them, it could raise various questions regarding their origin, livelihood, and survival in the elms (City Toronto 10).
The majority of the elms residents (23% immigrants and 43% blacks) live below the poverty line characterized by high rates of unemployment, increase in the number of school dropouts and high rates of crimes (Toronto 13). Following this condition, it was revealed after the National Household Survey of Statistics Canada held in 2011 (from the interviews) that the upper class and those in authorities contribute in them living in poverty. Apart from that, they believe that the government or local authorities are not doing enough in terms of equitable distribution of resources. In fact, anyone visiting the Elms Old Rexdale neighborhood gets a notion that the people there do not depend much on the authorities for help or any necessary assistance; this is the public image created by the locals to the public. This information was collected from the formal interviews conducted during the time surveys were held. Despite this, there is a strong bond between community members living in the elms.
The common idea among the perception of locals is that both locals and immigrants who languish in poverty have feelings that wealth revolves around the upper class who hold powerful positions in the government and other organizations (City of Toronto 17). Although 23% of the elms residents are immigrants, it may be probable that some of the perceptions they have about the local communities may be based on stereotypes, biases, or bad relationship with the locals.
Considering that the elm is a rural population (confirmed from the reports of the 2011 Canada census), the majority of the environment is green spaced, and single bungalow housing units occupy the majority of streets, avenues, and/or paths in the region. Most of the businesses operated in the region are retail with a few firms conducting the manufacturing processes within the region. Some of the public spaces have been utilized by the local residence who sometimes occupies them for shelter, while private spaces are mostly developed for commercial purposes. Alongside that, the major mode of transport to the Elms Old Rexdale is road because the region is connected with various feeder roads to highway 401 to the south. Apart from that, the socio-economic status of the locals in these regions encourages the use of road transport because the majority cannot afford costly modes of transportation.
In the Elm Old Rexdale in Ontario, the majority of the population lies within the low-income level, where the disposable income is too low to sustain individuals to earn a source of livelihood (City of Toronto 14). In situations where there is an average income level, then it means only one person is supporting the entire family. For immigrants, they have a high level of income, which is explained by their ability to work extra harder at low wages and the subjection to special treatment by the employers.
Residence in the Elm Old Rexdale in Ontario relies on casual or temporary employment offered by a few industries and/or a few of neighborhoods who may deem it wise giving house chores (City of Toronto 17). Producing and processing industries takes the lead of improving the economy of the region because they collaborate with contractors in enhancing the retail and wholesale in the region.
The Elms Old Rexdale in Ontario has a variety of indoors and outdoors games (evident from the reports given by the city of Toronto about the social profile) that are charged based on one’s level of income as well as the comfort one would expect to derive from the recreational facilities. The upper class elite prefer playing in Gym clubs and skating, as their type of recreational facilities preferred by the latter (City of Toronto 13). The facilities are readily accessible, but not appropriate to people of all the ages.
It is true that the majority of locals are migrants or do not understand each other; it therefore follows that for people to live in harmony communities need to include another in their cultural practices and norms, share common traditional experiences, myths and believes. Apart from the public facilities, the region has a few private health facilities that work to deliver services to the upper class in the region. Despite this, income disparities make it difficult for the unemployed to benefit from medical insurance covers as their cases regarding illnesses keeps on increasing.
The Elm street naturalization site is available, open from dusk to dawn and it is meant to serve the ever-increasing number of immigrants who should be given a chance to pursue their dream in the new region, the elm old rexdale (Toronto Police Service 2). Close to River Humber, a social planning council, which acts as an employment site where anyone looking for temporal or casual labor can visit and access the needed services.
The naturalization sites and the employment sites are not limited to the elm old rexdale region, but also available in other neighboring regions to facilitate easy access and convenience of service deliver and accessibility. The presence of many public health facilities and employment sites in all the neighborhoods confirms that they were strategically opened to serve the youth and women who experience high rates of unemployment and frequent illnesses.
According to my aggregate, the social economic status of the citizens of the Elms contributes immensely to the health situation they experience. Categorically, poor housing facilities, congestion, overcrowding on social amenities influence the prevalence of diseases, affect the socio-psychological status of students who end up performing poorly (Bryant 53). Overcrowding and poor housing conditions makes it difficult for any commercial activities to be ventured close to this region; hence, reducing the chances of the citizens to access jobs. Following this problem, it becomes hard for most dependents to access basic things including quality medical care and well-balanced diet making it easy for school-going children, infants and women to suffer from diabetes, cardiovascular and other communicable diseases.
One of the medical issues my group and I will focus on is community education and sensitization. It is true that most of the citizens of the Elms do not have basic community health education on how they should maintain health fitness in the environment they are living (Dixon 88). Apart from that, the sensitization program will also empower communities to utilize the little they earn in eating foods that will help in keeping their body fit and free from pathogens and diseases. Apart from that, it might help some groups in a given region to relocate and look for uncongested places where they can reside as a way to improve their quality of life, and even seek for ways of earning a living. Although the level of income is low in some groups, they will be given some of the ways through which they utilize the environment they are living for sustainability and development.
As one of the goals of the department of health and human services, it is the mandate of the institution to ensure that all citizens of Canada acquire medical information about prevalent diseases and conditions that could affect them and how they should address such conditions once they face them. After achieving this goal, the prevalence rates of diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and communicable diseases will reduce because people would have known ways through which they would adopt in preventing such medical conditions. As a student, I will launch a program by the name “medical health information for sustained health and development,” which will help in reducing the number of drug abuse, disease prevalent because of environmental causes, and even improve the socio-economic conditions of citizens through environmental conservation and management projects.
Ideally, it is known that medical field, environment, and economics are not related; however, it would call for the collaboration of other stakeholders in the mentioned field to ensure that the preset goals of improving the medical condition and indeed the socioeconomic condition of citizens are improved.
Concisely, the issue of ensuring that the community acquires quality health and living condition depends on the collaboration of various stakeholders in the society and not medical practitioners alone. For this reason, the government should collaborate with other stakeholders from other fields in ensuring that citizens in their respective areas of living access good socio-economic basic needs including health, food and housing.
Works cited
Toronto Police Service. Annual Statistical Report, 2011. Retrieved from http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/statistics/stats.php
Bryant, T. "The current state of housing in Canada as a social determinant of health." POLICY OPTIONS-MONTREAL 24.3 (2003): 52-56. Print.
Dickson, J. "Social determinants of health." Health Promotion International 15.1 (2000): 87-89. Print.
