Media Advisory: Town Hall Meeting Called in Response to Devastating Hospital Cuts in North Bay/Northern Ontario

NORTH BAY, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - April 15, 2016) - The North Bay Regional Health Centre has suffered from devastating hospital cuts, among the worst in all of Ontario. Since 2013, more than 300 full time front-line and vital support staff have been cut and 60 beds have been closed. Entire departments, including the regional Mental Health Rehab Unit and Forensic Transitional Unit have been closed. Patients have suffered as a result and hospital staff are overstretched. This is beyond troubling, it's a hospital cuts crisis. The cuts are impacting communities across the northeast. Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie, St. Joseph Island and Sudbury have all been impacted by major cuts.

Ontario is currently in the ninth consecutive year of real-dollar cuts to global hospital budgets, the longest stretch in Ontario's history. These cuts mean that hospitals across the province, including North Bay's, cannot keep up even with basic inflation. Hopitals have been cut to the point of dangerous overcrowding and understaffing and patients are paying the price. The North Bay Health Coalition and Ontario Health Coalition will host a town hall meeting on April 19 to share information and organize a local campaign to save and restore local hospital services.