MEDIA ADVISORY: More precarious health status of northern Ontario citizens means deep hospital cuts hit region hardest, report says

STURGEON FALLS, ONTARIO and MATTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - July 27, 2015) - The authors of a study that chronicled the experiences of hundreds of patients and their families with the province's health system, are in northeastern Ontario this week to provide an update on how northern patients are faring, following three straight years of provincial hospital cuts.

Media conferences are scheduled for:

Thursday, July 30, 2015 - 9 a.m. in Sturgeon Falls at the Royal Canadian Legion, 201 River Street.

Thursday, July 30, 2015 - 1 p.m. in Mattawa at the Royal Canadian Legion, 360 Hurdman Street.

Pushed Out of Northern Hospitals, Abandoned at Home: After Twenty Years of Budget Cuts, Ontario's Health System is Failing Patients, looks at the impact of the Liberal government's hospital funding policies on northern Ontario patients and hospitals. The original patient hotline report was released in 2014.

"Northern Ontario is harshly affected by hospital cutbacks, exacerbated by the challenges of geography and by poverty and underemployment," says Michael Hurley, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) president. He will be speaking at Thursday's media conference along with Sharon Richer, a front-line northern Ontario hospital worker.

Canadian Institute for Health Information paints a grim picture of health outcomes for northeastern Ontario residents including; shorter life expectancy; much higher rate of avoidable deaths and obesity and higher hospital readmissions than the provincial rates.