Adult Health Education

Abstract

When residents of industrial and rural Cape Breton noticed that their cancer rates were higher than the national average, and that they were going to far too many funerals, they sat up straight and took action. They began organising in groups to address the immediate issue and to think about all the factors in their environment, beyond their genes, that were affecting their health. Not only did they have higher morbidity, they realised, but they had higher rates of unemployment, environmental contamination, lower wages, and greater isolation than the rest of the province. To increase attention to the issue, the leaders who emerged helped residents to tell stories about their health and the health of their communities, and to take action to address more than the quality of their hospitals, but to address the quality of life in their communities.