Photo: Thank you for visiting my page from Canada · CC BY 2.0Riverbend scores better for health than 94% of Canadian towns
Across the region, 56% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; Alberta as a whole manages 53%. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Riverbend’s is long: 5.9 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Riverbend grades A for health, #149 of 474 in Alberta and #351 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Riverbend
Fewer smokers
Smoking is rarer around Riverbend than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 6.2% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
Life expectancy above the norm
Life expectancy in the region around Riverbend runs 1.5 years ahead of the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 21.7 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Self-rated health runs high
The survey’s age-standardised figure sits 4.8 points over the typical Canadian town’s, and 57% answered very good or excellent. Health survey ↓
Pharmacies on every corner
The average resident of Riverbend can reach 5.0 pharmacies inside 3 km; the closest is 0.8 km off. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Riverbend grades A for health
Each input ranked against Canadian towns of 2,500 or more: the region’s four, the town’s distance to a hospital.
The region’s four figures and the town’s distance to a hospital are each ranked against Canadian towns of 2,500 or more, then averaged. Its place: #149 of 474 in Alberta and #351 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
How the grade works
Health is graded as a regional score, labelled as such: very good or excellent self-rated health, chronic conditions (arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure averaged) and smoking from the Canadian Community Health Survey, each age-standardised so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, and life expectancy at birth, all for the health region. The residents’ average distance to a hospital is the one input measured for the town itself, so towns in one region can still differ.
In the region, high blood pressure (17%) and diabetes (6.7%)
What the survey finds on conditions, weight and habits for the region, the province as the tick.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
Habits · 2023/2024
Obesity runs lower than in the province, at 27% of adults against 32% for Alberta.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (table 13-10-0972), as published, not adjusted for age; obesity from reported height and weight. The anxiety disorder figure is the 2021/2022 estimate: Statistics Canada found the latest too unreliable to publish here.
How the 5 health regions in Alberta compare on life expectancy
Regional life expectancy in Alberta, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
This is the longest-lived of the 5 regions in Alberta, 4.7 years ahead of the last at 78.3.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Context only: each bar is the residents’ average quintile on one dimension of Statistics Canada’s index, for Riverbend’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
57% in the region call their health very good or excellent, more than in Alberta (54%)
How adults in the health region answered the survey, not adjusted for age; the tick marks the province.
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Mental health reads like the rest of Alberta: 54% against 52%, and 23% under quite a bit of stress most days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Getting to hospital from Riverbend: 5.9 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Riverbend’s own, not the region’s.
Compared with 3.1 km for the typical town in Alberta and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Riverbend is on the far side. Few clinics are listed in Alberta, so the distance to one reads longer than it is.
Hospitals and clinics: Statistics Canada, Open Database of Healthcare Facilities. Pharmacies: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Straight-line distances from each dissemination area, weighted by its 2021 population.
About as long-lived as regions this deprived, if slightly less
One dot per health region, 102 in all, since life expectancy and the index are published for regions; Riverbend’s dot is marked, close to the line.
The line through 102 regions (correlation −0.83) gives a score of 2.3 about 83.2 years; Riverbend’s region’s 83.0 is within a year of it. Set beside its 10 nearest neighbours on the index, it outlives the majority, 7 of 10; their median is 82.8 years.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, 2022/2024, by health region. Deprivation: Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation 2021 (situational vulnerability), averaged over each region’s towns by their residents; income: 2021 Census median household income, averaged the same way. The averages and the line are TownRatings calculations.
Riverbend is 28th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 9,027 to 9,364 people, median 3.9 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Central SK B+ | 9,124 | 0.7 km | 49% |
| 2 | Danforth ON A | 9,364 | 1.0 km | 50% |
| 3 | Downtown Commercial Core AB A+ | 9,286 | 1.0 km | 56% |
| 26 | Three Rivers PE B | 9,322 | 5.6 km | 51% |
| 27 | Crescent Heights BC A | 9,033 | 5.6 km | 50% |
| 28 | Riverbend AB A | 9,193 | 5.9 km | 56% |
| 29 | Churchville ON B+ | 9,043 | 6.2 km | 49% |
| 30 | Vankleek Hill ON C+ | 9,321 | 7.0 km | 49% |
| 40 | Kimberley BC B− | 9,037 | 24 km | 57% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Riverbend
Nearby places: distance to a hospital and each one’s regional figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riverbend | 5.9 km | 56% | 83.0 | A |
| Ogden 1.6 km | 6.1 km | 56% | 83.0 | A |
| Willow Park 2.8 km | 4.7 km | 56% | 83.0 | A |
| Acadia 2.8 km | 3.4 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Douglasdale/Glen 3.3 km | 6.3 km | 56% | 83.0 | A |
| Fairview 3.3 km | 2.5 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Queensland 4.0 km | 4.4 km | 56% | 83.0 | A |
One health region covers Riverbend and every place in the table, so the survey and life-expectancy columns read the same. Residents of Fairview live nearer a hospital, at 2.5 km against 5.9 km in Riverbend.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- Distances are straight lines. Roads, rivers and ferries aren’t in it: the figure is a straight line from where people live, averaged over residents.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Riverbend alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- What counts as a hospital. A “hospital” here is whatever the provinces listed as one in Statistics Canada’s database, which can mean a site without an emergency department.
- Who the survey asks. The health survey leaves out people living on reserves, full-time Canadian Forces members, people in institutions, and Nunavik and the Cree lands of James Bay.
- Deprivation is context. Deprivation is shown to set the scene and doesn’t count toward the grade; Statistics Canada left the territories out of the index.
Questions about health in Riverbend
How is Riverbend’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Riverbend’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How healthy is Riverbend?
On every regional measure, the region does better than the typical Canadian town. Chronic conditions there average 16% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
What is the life expectancy in Riverbend?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 85.0 for women, 80.9 for men around Riverbend (2022/2024).
How far is Riverbend from a hospital?
For everyday care, Riverbend’s residents are 0.8 km from a pharmacy on average.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (13-10-0972) · Statistics Canada, life expectancy 2022/2024 (13-10-0988) · Statistics Canada, health regions 2023 (82-402-X) · Statistics Canada, Open Database of Healthcare Facilities · pharmacies © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Statistics Canada, Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation 2021. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).