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By Veronica Beltran

research for rural communities

UNBC and other B.C. universities help tackle challenges faced by rural communities

Jul 13, 2020 | 10:59 AM

PRINCE GEORGE—Three interior universities are participating in research projects to help aid the complex problems faced by British Columbians living in remote and rural areas of the province.

The University of Northern BC, Thompson Rivers University (TRU), and UBC Okanagan (UBCO) are participating in the research projects. The universities are being supported by the Interior University Research Coalition’s Regional/Rural/Remote Communities (IURC) Collaborative Research Grant which has granted each research team $40, 000 to focus on topics such as water treatment, aging and mental health resiliency in the face of climate change.

“Rural and remote communities in non-metropolitan areas are experiencing economic, social and environmental changes that are profound and complex.”—Janice Larsen, IURC director

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UNBC’s Environmental Engineering professor, Jianbing Li is leading research into developing effective, low-cost, and portable water treatment systems for remote and rural communities. Rural communities often struggle with accessing drinking water.

Professor Li is joined by two UBCO professors in trying to develop a household water-treatment system that would remove common contaminants from rural water sources.

“Having reliable access to a safe drinking water supply is essential for the healthy development of rural, regional and remote communities.”—Jianbing Li, UNBC Environmental Engineering professor

“Our interdisciplinary research team is working toward discovering a water treatment solution, training graduate students and developing meaningful partnerships with relevant communities in British Columbia,” added Li.

TRU associate professor Wendy Hulko along with UBCO’s Kathy Rush and UNBC’s Sarah De Leeuw, are leading a project which looks at the repositioning of health-care services for seniors. The repositioning of services aims to help enable older adults to live at home longer, while helping reduce hospital admissions and delay residential care.

One of the outcomes of Interior Health’s service restructure was the formation of health and wellness centres in Kamloops and Kelowna. The centres provide primary health-care for older adults and were designed to create better access to health services for vulnerable populations.

“One of the goals of these wellness centres was to get people connected to care, but we will have to find out how those services have been impacted by the pandemic and how the pandemic is impacting the ability of older adults to age in place.”—Wendy Hulko, TRU Associate professor

UBCO’s Nelly Oelke, an associate professor is leading a project that aims to encourage resiliency in rural and remote communities by creating a better understanding of the mental-health impacts of climate-change events.

“Climate-change events can result in extreme physical and psychological trauma for vulnerable populations living in rural and remote communities,” says Oelke.

“PTSD, depression, anxiety, increased substance use and suicidality are all found to increase during and after problematic flooding, wildfires and drought, which are becoming more and more common in BC and around the world.”— Nelly Oelke, UBCO associate professor

Oelke adds that many of the approaches used to address mental health relating to natural disasters are very similar to approaches used during pandemics and that the evidence based solutions they develop will provide increased support to Indigenous people, people living in poverty, children and first responders.