The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The NOR-MAN Regional Health Authority is encouraged by health improvements throughout the region. The authority conducted its first Community Health Assessment in 1997-98, and the results were far from pleasing. "In our first health assessment, we discovered that we, as a health region, are sicker than most," Sue Crockett, executive director of planning, said in a health authority newsletter. "Our lifestyle, nutrition, lack of exercise, exercise levels and the jobs we do are all contributing to [a] higher mortality rate and more chronic disease in the North." But just a few years later, the situation has noticeably improved, something Crockett said is thanks to an increased focus on health promotion as well as prevention strategies. "We've seen our premature mortality rate go down and life expectancy increase for both males and females," she said. Crockett also spoke highly of improvements in the authority's cervical and mammography screening programs. "Our low screening rates were a concern, and knowing the importance of screening programs for preventing some cancers, we needed to do something about it," she said. The authority's coverage area consists of approximately 72,000 square kilometers, extending from Grand Rapids in the southeast corner of the province to Flin Flon in the northwest region.
