If there is one thing that Kenmore locals can be proud of, apart from scoring high on the healthiest suburbs study, it is that the latest Domain Healthy Brisbane research also revealed that residents in this generous suburb also have giving hearts.
Domain, in partnership with Deloitte Access Economics and Tract Consultants, brought the first ever Domain Healthy Suburbs–an in-depth study of suburbs in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane and the health opportunities that these places provide to its residents.
A total of 10 indicators, including Volunteering, that either help or hinder health were used to determine the healthy suburb score. These indicators are categorised under Recovery, Hindrance, and Promotion.
The healthy suburb indicators:
- Walkability
- Active transport to work
- Open space
- Tree cover
- Access to fresh food/supermarkets
- Volunteering
- Fast food stores
- Liquor stores
- Hospitals
- Allied/Community health
Domain reported that the volunteering population in Kenmore is very high. In fact, some better-known charity organisations have a waiting list of individuals wanting to volunteer and the waiting time is quite long. Such is the case of Tom Bassingthwaite, who said that he had to wait a year before a spot was opened for him. Mr Bassingthwaite has been doing volunteer work for the past two-and-a-half years for a charity initiative called “Meals on Wheels”—delivering food for the frail and/or aged, and people with disabilities.
Authors of the study also underscored the difficulty of measuring social indicators such as feelings of community and belonging, yet they are important and can influence the mental health outcomes. For this study, the use of volunteering as an indicator is based on the assumption that the level of volunteerism in a community affects the level of social connection amongst its residents.
Not only did Kenmore score well on volunteerism, it also scored high on Tree Cover and Walkability. The top ten suburbs teeming with kind-hearted individuals are Chelmer, St Lucia, Ashgrove, Kenmore, Bardon, Fig Tree Pocket, Corinda, Chapel Hill, Grange, and Graceville.
