Health of Bay Roberts residents to be probed

By Local Journalism Initiative Olivia Bradbury

If you’re living in Bay Roberts, an arm of the federal government wants to know how you’re feeling.

As part of a national health survey, Statistics Canada will operate an examination centre in Bay Roberts from September 2 to October 7.

The agency will gather data for the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS).

“It’s really a national survey that was established to collect information from Canadians about their general health and lifestyles,” said Stephanie Lavoie, the unit head of the CHMS Collection Team.

The survey is conducted in two-year cycles. The first one began in 2007. They are currently conducting the eighth cycle, which began in 2025 and will conclude in 2027.

For this cycle, 16 locations across Canada were randomly selected through a scientific sampling process. Bay Roberts is the only survey location in Newfoundland and Labrador. Statistics Canada staff will spend six weeks at each location.

 Approximately 850 households in Bay Roberts will be randomly selected to take part in the survey. Letters will be sent to the households informing them of their selection. The survey is voluntary, so householders can decide whether to participate.

If a resident agrees to participate, an interviewer from Statistics Canada will visit and pick one to two household members to be participants.

The first part of the survey consists of an at-home interview. Participants will be asked questions about nutrition, smoking habits, alcohol use, medical history, and so on.

“Just general current health status of the respondents — we call them respondents — that were chosen,” said Lavoie. “Also includes lifestyle and physical activity, and then there’s some demographic and socioeconomic information, as well, collected at that time.”

After the at-home interview, participants are invited to make an appointment with the survey team to come to its temporary examination centre, which will be located in the parking lot of the Bay Arena.

There, participants will undergo the physical part of the survey. Researchers will take their blood pressure, measure their height, take their weight, judge their physical fitness, and collect blood and urine samples.

“We test for chronic disease, nutrition, environmental markers, and we also store the blood and urine in our Statistics biobank,” said Lavoie. “Any of these markers that we can have that complements the questions and vice versa really gives us a whole picture to improve the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of illnesses, and to promote health and wellness across Canada.”.

Statistics Canada has federal partners that use the data for their own work. For example, it was used by the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology to develop Canada’s 24-Hour Movement Guideline. It has also been used for surveillance and risk assessments by Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada. Statistics Canada also puts out publications about topics such as vitamin D deficiency, consumption habits, and the like.

The role of participants is crucial.

“They play a really important role in understanding the health of Canadians,” Lavoie said. “It really helps us and our partners develop health services that affect all Canadians in this case.”

Participants are entitled to a report of their physical and laboratory test results.

“They would get results for tests or analyses that they might have not been able to see at a doctor’s office,” said Lavoie. “Although we’re not diagnostic, it is still an important value for the respondents.”

Participants also get a reward of $150 for their time.

Under the Statistics Act, information collected for the survey will be kept strictly confidential.