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The Centre for Healthy Communities at Loyalist College is launching a three-year study of social prescribing in Prince Edward County.
A team of researchers at Loyalist College was awarded $360k from the federal government’s College and Community Social Innovation Fund in October.
The project, led by senior researcher Clara Tascon, PhD, and Kurstin Salisbury of the Centre for Healthy Communities, is to pilot a social prescribing initiative aimed at reducing social isolation and improving the overall well-being of older adults.
Social prescribing is the practice in which a physician, nurse or other health-care professional writes a formal prescription for lifestyle changes such as nature walks, eating fruits and vegetables, or attending a show.
Examples can be found in Quebec, where doctors have been prescribing tickets to the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, reflecting research that live music increases levels of feel-good hormones like dopamine and reduces stress hormones such as cortisol. Closer to home, physicians in the Halton Region prescribe nature walks in the form of free passes to conservation areas, facilitated through the PaRx Foundation.
The key, PaRx states, is that the physical prescription itself carries more weight with patients than a verbal recommendation. The social prescribing movement has been gaining momentum in response to mounting evidence showing how factors such as loneliness, stress and urban living can have a significant impact on health and well-being — particularly in older adults.
Kurstin Salisbury, senior manager at Loyalist College’s Centre for Healthy Communities, says there is plenty of time for interested community organizations to get involved.
The priority in the first year of the study will be building strong relationships with the community and designing a tailored program that best meets the needs of the County’s older adults.
The team is compiling a “community asset map” to identify programs, services and resources that already exist to leverage the strengths of the region. From there, they will select the programs that are best suited to older adults and begin piloting social prescriptions in early 2027.
While the Loyalist initiative will be the first of its kind in terms of scope and scale, social prescribing is not new to Picton.
Kathy Kennedy, executive director of the Prince Edward Learning Centre, has been involved in a number of smaller social prescribing initiatives, including GreensRx. “GreensRx was a research partnership between our Fresh Food Market and the Prince Edward Family Health Team, where doctors would prescribe fresh fruits and veggies — it was hugely successful.”
Kennedy is thrilled that PELC and The County Foundation have been identified as community anchor partners in the newly funded initiative. She believes it has the potential to address the underlying factors that can have a disproportionate impact on people’s health — factors like income. “PELC has been particularly invested in social prescribing work around income, which we know is a key social determinant of health — and will certainly be advocating for this to be a part of the program.”
The partnership has garnered broad community support from organizations including the Prince Edward Family Health Team, the Arts Council, the Public Library and others.
Danielle Pilon, manager of collections and customer experience at the Library, is thrilled to be involved — and hopes the research will bring broader awareness of programs that are available to anyone in the community, prescription or not.
“We have book clubs, mahjong meetups and a community pantry that are available to everyone — you can even rent musical instruments free of charge. I don’t think people in the community necessarily know that.”
“The idea is, of course, to create a program that will eventually be available to all populations and demographics,” says Ms. Salisbury. There will be pathways beyond the Family Health Team, as many people in the County are not attached to a family doctor or nurse practitioner.
Regardless, it may be years before the average resident is being prescribed tickets to the Chamber Music Festival or a pass to Little Bluff.
The good thing is that these things do not require prescriptions — anyone can access them at any time.
“Our goal is to really engage people in opportunities to connect, to build capacity, and to help them understand that they have the agency to improve their health and well-being,” noted Ms. Salisbury.
For more information, or to identify your organization as a community partner, visit the Loyalist College Centre for Healthy Communities webpage.
Dr. Gautham Krishnaraj is a Fellow in Journalism & Health Impact at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health
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