Group items tagged

According to Health Quality Ontario, the median wait for a long-term-care bed in the northwest region of the province is 187 days if you’re living at home, 93 days if you’re living in hospital – one of the worst records in the province.

But the data tell only part of the story. That average six-month wait is for a long-term-care bed anywhere in the region. The next closest communities to Red Lake are Dryden and Kenora, each about a three-hour drive away, a punishing journey for families who want to visit regularly. So they wait even longer for a local placement.

The hospital council, however, blames the Ontario government for the situation. "The Ontario government is aggressively cutting and centralizing obstetric services," Sharon Richer, north-east Vice-president for the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE, said in a release. "Increasingly these cuts are forcing young families in the north to travel - and to absorb the risks and the costs of that travel -in order to safely give birth. "Because childbirth is unpredictable, mothers are routinely being told they must travel from communities like Geraldton, to cities like Thunder Bay, where they must stay for two weeks prior to their delivery. The northern travel grant gives them $100 towards accommodation that actually costs $1,500 or more. "Amy Savill's story plays out on a more modest scale many times every day in the north," Richer said. Judy Bain, northwest Ontario Vice-president for OCHU, called the Northern Health Travel Grant inadequate.

"We need to remember that young families, especially single parent ones, simply do not have the resources to absorb such expenses," she said. "People in southern Ontario would be shocked to know that birthing services are being cut in communities as large as Kenora in Northern Ontario. "Essentially, the provincial government is asking northerners to cover the costs of having a child safely. The Ontario Council of Hospital Unions said new and expecting parents can call the hotline to tell their stories of childbirth and the travel-related costs they have been forced to absorb. The hotline number is 1-888-599-0770.