New Gabriola health and well-being service adopted by RDN board
With only 101 valid electors submitting their opposition to establishing a health and well-being service on Gabriola Island, a new service bylaw has been adopted by the Regional District of Nanaimo board of directors.
The number of electors who validly submitted forms by the deadline in the alternative approval process (AAP) for the establishment of the Gabriola Island Community Health and Wellbeing Contribution Service equals 2.57 per cent of the estimated 3,928 electors in the service area. One elector response form was rejected by the corporate officer. The response forms received were well under the 10 per cent of electors – 392 – that would have had to submit a form to reject the service.
The Get Involved information webpage for the AAP was visited 107 times.
Electoral Area B (Gabriola, Mudge, DeCourcy) Director Vanessa Craig thanked RDN staff and community members involved in the process. “For more than a year I thank the board for their support as we’ve been moving through the question of whether or not it would be useful to have a health and well-being service on Gabriola, providing that service to Gabriolans,” Craig said at the Feb. 27 board meeting.
The 2024-28 financial plan will now be amended by adding a total of $50,592 for the first year of service. That will cover part-time health and wellbeing administration and coordinator services for Gabriola as well as well as a two per cent Regional District of Nanaimo administrative fee. The individual hired will not be employed by the RDN, rather have a contract with a local organization.
The 2022 feasibility report conducted for the service estimated the cost of a full-time contract at $100,600. The part-time option is envisioned as a one-year pilot starting in 2024. Craig said discussion with the community indicated part-time was the preferred option initially.
“There’s a lot of interest in it, but [the community] would like to see what it’s doing and how it’s implemented and the benefits to the community before it goes into a full-time position,” Craig said.
The bylaw stipulates the service area is Gabriola Island and not all of Electoral Area B. The maximum annual requisition is set at $103,000 or the amount equal to what could be raised by a property value tax rate of $0.0389 per $1,000 applied to the net taxable value of land and improvements on Gabriola.
The feasibility report describes the goals of the service will be for a coordinator to facilitate community collaborations and committees, reduce gaps in service provision and wellness planning, improve health and wellness outcomes for residents of Gabriola, improve access to funding for local service providers and evaluate outcomes of health and wellness interventions and services.
Rachelle Stein-Wotten, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder
