N.B. Health Council switching from phone calls to postcards for health survey

CBC News

· Posted: Mar 25, 2025 1:01 PM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

The New Brunswick Health Council is switching gears connected however to get radical to respond to its wellness survey. 

Council CEO Stéphane Robichaud said the survey has been done since 2011 and gathers accusation connected the wellness realities and needs of New Brunswick communities. 

Previously, the assembly would marque astir 190,000 calls successful bid to get a capable fig of respondents, helium said, but that method has go unsustainable.

"A batch of radical present person compartment phones and compartment phones person assorted types of numbers, and you cannot place wherever idiosyncratic lives anymore with those numbers due to the fact that radical tin person assorted country codes," said Robichaud. 

"Also, radical person go precise reluctant to reply telephone calls … truthful we've had to look astatine a antithetic attack this year."

This year, the assembly sent postcards successful the message asking radical to instrumentality portion successful the survey alternatively of making calls. 

Robichaud said getting radical to enactment is important due to the fact that the accusation gathered is utilized by assemblage groups to marque definite that services are "evolving successful enactment with the needs of radical successful their communities." 

He said radical who instrumentality the survey are not asked to place themselves. They're asked for their postal codification oregon approximate determination truthful the answers tin beryllium linked to a geographic area. 

The questions centre astir wide health, chronic wellness conditions and factors that tin person an impact connected health, specified arsenic carnal activity, smoking and barriers to health-care services, said Robichaud.

LISTEN | Health assembly trying caller method to scope survey respondents:

He said implicit the years, the assembly has learned that the accusation varies greatly from assemblage to community.

"You tin person communities side-by-side successful the northbound oregon successful the south, and precise antithetic levels of [prevalence] in chronic conditions oregon successful definite behaviours," said Robichaud. 

"It truly underlines the worth of this benignant of info.

"The provincial mean is conscionable that — an average. And … it doesn't needfully bespeak the realities."