Preventative health care keeps Elliot Lake retirees fit

A former mining town, Elliot Lake has successfully reinvented itself as a retirement community.

According to the 2006 census data, 31.6 per cent of the town’s population of 11,549 is 65 years of age and older, ranking it well above every other community in northeastern Ontario in terms of age. The equivalent percentages for Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, Sudbury and Timmins are 18.5 per cent, 16 per cent, 14.9 per cent and 12.7 per cent, respectively.

Pierrette Brown, the executive director of the Elliot Lake Family Health Team, estimates that the 2011 census will show an increase in the town’s 65 plus demographic to 33 per cent and a median age of 60.

An older demographic can be expected to have more health care needs, “but a lot of the people who retire in Elliot Lake are healthy, active people, and the goal of the family health team is to keep them as healthy and as active as possible for as long as possible,” said Brown.

Without the family health team and the quality health care it delivers, Elliot Lake would have a much more difficult time attracting seniors, she said. Preventative care helps to keep Elliot Lake’s seniors fit, and the team’s EMR system plays an important role in preventing screening procedures from falling between the cracks.

The clinic’s interdisciplinary team is also a big help, said Brown.

“If you’re an asthmatic, for example, you can see your respiratory therapist anytime instead of waiting until you’re in crisis and end up on a ventilator in the hospital’s ICU.”

The Elliot Lake Family Health Team provides health care to approximately 10,300 rostered patients and will have a 14th physician join in June.