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CHAPLEAU EXPRESS CHAPLEAU EXPRESS
PIZZA HUT & KFC There’s a Reason We’re Number 1 “0 TRANS FAT” 864-0911
Vol. 15, Issue 37, May 28, 2011
Northern Ontario hospital-acquired infection tour urges health minister to bring down death rates
A
t a Chapleau media conference today, hospital staff urged Ontario's health minister to bring down death rates from hospital-acquired infections by lowering hospital occupancy rates, doing a deep clean of Ontario's hospitals and providing more resources for cleaning and infection control. Sharon Richer, the northern Ontario president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), said the suffering and deaths of thousands of Ontarians from hospital-acquired infections are so regrettable because they are preventable. To draw attention to this
leading cause of preventable death, OCHU/CUPE has launched a 15 community tour of northern Ontario, using a theatre set representing a hospital room to demonstrate the disinfection of a room that has been occupied by a patient with a superbug like C. difficile, VRE or MRSA. Studies suggest that hospital-acquired infections kill between 3,200 and 5,000 Ontarians each year. While health care leaders make a direct connection between hospital overcrowding to superbug outbreaks, the Ontario government plans to cut another 5,000 acute care beds provincewide. Hospital bed occupancy is at a record
level (over 97 per cent) and Ontario has fewer hospital beds per 1,000 of the population than any province. Countries, like the Netherlands, with much lower occupancy rates have correspondingly lower death rates from hospital-acquired infections. Between 1991 and 2003, a period when 16,000 hospital beds were cut in Ontario, the rate of patients contracting C. difficile increased almost fivefold. Outbreaks of other types of hospitalassociated infections also rose. The mobile hospital room tour will visit Cochrane, New Liskeard, Sioux Lookout, Kenora and Fort Frances in May and June.
President of CUPE Local 4801, Joanne Boyle learning the proper steps of desinfecting a hospital room after it has been vacated. “We hope to significantly raise public awareness this spring,” said Marc Lafrance, OCHU Francophone vicepresident. “The Ontario government needs to require hospitals to report their death rates
from hospital-acquired infections, as other jurisdictions do.” Richer and Lafrance called on the province “to provide resources for a deep clean of Ontario hospitals, as the United Kingdom has done.
Contracted-out hospital cleaning, a practice the Royal College of Nurses has said is dangerous and unsafe, should be prohibited. And, we need more resources for cleaning on an ongoing basis and for infection control.”
Ultimate fishing town: A race to the finish
W
ith only a few days left in the
Long Term Forecast Friday High 15 Low -1
Ultimate Fishing Town contest the race continues to be a tight one. The final round of voting will end on Tuesday, May 31st at 6:00 p.m. A continued effort to
vote for Chapleau is needed. Our main competition in the race is Port Colborne. Chapleau seems to do better in the voting aspect during the weekend and Port Colborne
seems to take over the lead during the week. This is somewhat of a David and Goliath scenario as Port Colborne has a population of close to 19000. Win or loose,
this competition has united the community and all Chapleauites, regardless of their location. There is no such thing as an exChapleauite. As a community, any upcoming
challenges that we may be facing in the future, will certainly be alleviated by this apparent community spirit. Strength is in numbers as we stand united.
Saturday High 15 Low 5 Sunday High 18 Low 7 Monday High 22 Low 14 Tuesday High 27 Low 16 Wednesday High 24 Low 15
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