The Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit is going to review all of its programs and services to address gaps and better support public health.
Municipal and health unit officials say some will be new while others will be upgraded to reflect changes in the new demographic snapshot of the area. The 2016 snapshot shows that Chatham-Kent's average annual income is $58,000, which is $16,000 lower than the rest of the province and has declined by nearly 4% since 2005.
Local low-income rates are at 17%, which are higher than the provincial average and jumped 3% in the last decade.
The new numbers also show that 16% of people in Chatham-Kent have not graduated from high school, which is 6% higher than the Ontario average.
Teresa Bendo, Chatham-Kent's director of public health, says it's too early to say what programs and services will be reviewed and what they will look like upon completion.
"There's a significant amount of change in public health these days with our new expectations from the province and looking at the community's data to build our programs and services based on that," says Bendo.
Chatham-Kent's population also declined by 2% since 2011 and it's getting older.
Karen Loney, the health educator with the mayor's and CAO's office, says there's plenty of planning work to do to achieve economic prosperity and good health in Chatham-Kent.
"We're just one player and you need collective action. So, you need all sectors involved. You need business, you need the government, you need education, you need non-profit. You also need to include your provincial leaders, your municipal leaders and your federal leaders to look at those types of things," Loney says.
Loney says there are several files to look at, including early childhood years and an aging population.
"If we know there's an increasing aging population, do we have programs and services to target that and if we have a gap in between that age group, are we providing programs and services to help that group," says Loney.