Health in Valemount · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Valemount’s region trails the typical Canadian town by 4.9 years: life expectancy 76.6
Across the region, 39% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; British Columbia as a whole reaches 50%. Closer to home, a hospital is just 0.7 km from the average resident of Valemount, nearer than the usual 3.7 km. Health gives Valemount a grade of C.
British Columbia: 50% · Source area for very good or excellent health, chronic conditions, smokers and life expectancy: the Northern Interior Health Service Delivery Area
Chronic conditions
20%
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure: average share
The survey’s age-standardised figure sits 12.4 points under the typical Canadian town’s, and 39% answered very good or excellent. Health survey ↓
Below the trend for its deprivation
Regions scoring 3.7 on the deprivation index typically live 78.3 years; Valemount’s region, at 76.6, falls short. For its deprivation ↓
Long-term conditions run high
High blood pressure (26%) and diabetes (10%) push the region’s chronic-condition figure above the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
Deprivation runs high
On the index’s situational vulnerability, which follows housing, income and education, Valemount’s neighbourhoods average 4.5 out of 5, among the most deprived fifth of the country. The wider area ↓
From Statistics Canada: the health survey and life expectancy for the health region, the deprivation index for the town; distances from the healthcare facilities database and OpenStreetMap.
Health Grade
Valemount grades C for health
Each input ranked against Canadian towns of 2,500 or more: the region’s four, the town’s distance to a hospital.
Very good or excellent health (39%)Better than 1% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (20%)Better than 17% of Canadian towns
Smokers (12%)Better than 63% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (76.6)Better than 4% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (0.7 km)Better than 97% of Canadian towns
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.
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.
Health survey
Self-rated health trails British Columbia: 39% very good or excellent, against 50%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Health very good or excellent
39%
Health fair or poor
17%
Mental health very good or excellent
40%
Mental health fair or poor
23%
Most days quite a bit stressful
28%
Strong sense of belonging
60%
Satisfied with life
81%
British Columbia
Fewer adults here report very good or excellent mental health than across British Columbia (40% against 49%), while 28% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
For its deprivation
1.7 fewer years of life than regions as deprived
102 dots, 102 health regions: no town has its own life expectancy here, and Valemount’s region shows under the trend.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
Shorter lives come with deeper deprivation across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83). Even allowing for its score of 3.7, Valemount’s region’s 76.6 years sit under the line’s 78.3. Narrow the field to the 10 regions most like it on deprivation and 9 still live longer, with 78.5 years in the middle. Households here earn around $87,000, more than in most regions, but the region still lives less long than most; across regions income barely tracks life expectancy (correlation 0.14).
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.
Conditions and habits
In the region, high blood pressure (26%) and diabetes (10%)
Long-term conditions and habits as the region’s adults reported them; the tick marks the province.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
High blood pressure
26%
Arthritis
25%
Diabetes
10%
Obese (self-reported)
41%
Mood disorder
21%
Anxiety disorder
13%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
12%
Smoke every day
8.8%
Heavy drinking
22%
British Columbia
Obesity runs higher than in the province, at 41% of adults against 25% for British Columbia. Heavy drinking runs above the province, 22% to 19%.
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.
The wider area
Life expectancy across the 16 health regions in British Columbia
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in British Columbia, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
76.6
years at birth, 2022/2024
18.9
more years expected at 65
16th
longest of 16 regions in British Columbia
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Richmond Health Service Delivery Area86.8
Fraser North Health Service Delivery Area84.4
North Shore/Coast Garibaldi Health Service Delivery Area84.3
Vancouver Health Service Delivery Area83.3
Fraser South Health Service Delivery Area83.2
South Vancouver Island Health Service Delivery Area82.7
Okanagan Health Service Delivery Area81.0
East Kootenay Health Service Delivery Area80.5
Fraser East Health Service Delivery Area80.0
Central Vancouver Island Health Service Delivery Area79.8
Kootenay-Boundary Health Service Delivery Area79.5
North Vancouver Island Health Service Delivery Area79.5
Thompson/Cariboo Health Service Delivery Area78.8
Northwest Health Service Delivery Area77.0
Northeast Health Service Delivery Area76.9
Northern Interior Health Service Delivery Area76.6
Last of the 16 regions in British Columbia: the highest figure is 86.8, 10.2 years above the lowest.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability3.5
Economic dependency3.5
Ethno-cultural composition2.5
Situational vulnerability4.5
This is the one part of the block measured for Valemount itself, and it sets the scene rather than feeding the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Getting care
Getting to hospital from Valemount: 0.7 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Valemount, weighted by who lives there.
Hospital
0.7 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
0.7 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
0.4 km
residents’ average distance
2.0 within 3 km of a typical home
More than 30 km from a hospital
0%
share of residents
Emergency
911
police, fire, ambulance; 811 for health advice in most provinces
Valemount is closer in than the provincial norm of 4.4 km in British Columbia, and than the typical Canadian town at 3.7 km.
Distances are straight lines. They run from where residents live, not along roads, so they understate a drive; each dissemination area counts by its 2021 population.
•
Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Valemount shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
•
Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
•
Who the survey asks. Not everyone is in the survey’s sample: reserves, the Canadian Forces, institutions and two northern Québec regions are left out.
•
What counts as a hospital. The facilities database merges provincial lists of different vintages; its hospitals include some with no emergency department, and a few are placed by postal code.
•
Adjusted for age. The grade’s three survey shares are age-standardised to Canada’s adults, so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, while the survey charts show answers as given.
Questions about health in Valemount
How healthy is Valemount?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 20%.
What is the life expectancy in Valemount?
For the health region that includes Valemount, women can expect 79.5 years and men 74.0 (2022/2024).
How far is Valemount from a hospital?
Residents of Valemount have a clinic 0.7 km away on average and a pharmacy 0.4 km away, in straight lines.
How is Valemount’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Valemount: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
Photo: RockyGoat · Public domain