Health in Blind River · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Lives run shorter around Blind River: 77.9 years, 3.6 below the typical Canadian town’s region
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 46%, behind the 51% for Ontario. For Blind River itself the measure is access: 2.6 km to the nearest hospital, much like the typical 3.7 km. The Health grade for Blind River is C−, #840 of 866 in Ontario and #2,435 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
Ontario: 51% · Area-wide: very good or excellent health, chronic conditions, smokers and life expectancy, counted over the The District of Algoma Health Unit
Chronic conditions
20%
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure: average share
The age-standardised smoking rate around Blind River is well above the typical town’s; 15% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Pharmacies far off
Picking up a prescription in Blind River takes a trip of 30 km on average to the nearest mapped pharmacy. Getting care ↓
Fewer people feeling well
The survey’s age-standardised figure sits 5.5 points under the typical Canadian town’s, and 45% answered very good or excellent. Health survey ↓
More chronic illness
Arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure are commoner here than in the typical town’s region, even for its ages: 30% report high blood pressure and 9.6% diabetes. Conditions and habits ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Health Grade
Blind River grades C− for health
Each input ranked against Canadian towns of 2,500 or more: the region’s four, the town’s distance to a hospital.
Very good or excellent health (46%)Better than 16% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (20%)Better than 21% of Canadian towns
Smokers (17%)Better than 13% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (77.9)Better than 9% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (2.6 km)Better than 82% of Canadian towns
The region’s four figures and the town’s distance to a hospital are each ranked against Canadian towns of 2,500 or more, then averaged. Its place: #840 of 866 in Ontario and #2,435 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
How the grade works
Health is graded as a regional score, labelled as such: very good or excellent self-rated health, chronic conditions (arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure averaged) and smoking from the Canadian Community Health Survey, each age-standardised so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, and life expectancy at birth, all for the health region. The residents’ average distance to a hospital is the one input measured for the town itself, so towns in one region can still differ.
Conditions and habits
In the region, high blood pressure (30%) and diabetes (9.6%)
What the survey finds on conditions, weight and habits for the region, the province as the tick.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
High blood pressure
30%
Arthritis
29%
Diabetes
9.6%
Obese (self-reported)
43%
Mood disorder
17%
Anxiety disorder
16%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
17%
Smoke every day
15%
Heavy drinking
20%
Ontario
At 43%, self-reported obesity is above Ontario’s 30%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (table 13-10-0972), as published, not adjusted for age; obesity from reported height and weight. The anxiety disorder figure is the 2021/2022 estimate: Statistics Canada found the latest too unreliable to publish here.
Getting care
From Blind River, a hospital is 2.6 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Blind River, weighted by who lives there.
Hospital
2.6 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
2.8 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
30 km
residents’ average distance
0.0 within 3 km of a typical home
More than 30 km from a hospital
0%
share of residents
Emergency
911
police, fire, ambulance; 811 for health advice in most provinces
For distance to care Blind River is ordinary: 3.3 km is the typical figure in Ontario, 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town.
45% in the region call their health very good or excellent, fewer than in Ontario (51%)
How adults in the health region answered the survey, not adjusted for age; the tick marks the province.
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Health very good or excellent
45%
Health fair or poor
19%
Mental health very good or excellent
48%
Mental health fair or poor
14%
Most days quite a bit stressful
17%
Strong sense of belonging
70%
Satisfied with life
88%
Ontario
Fewer adults here report very good or excellent mental health than across Ontario (48% against 51%), while 17% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
For its deprivation
Level with regions as deprived, give or take a few months
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Blind River’s region is near the line.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
Deprivation explains most of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102), and Blind River’s region is a typical case: 77.9 years at a score of 3.8, where the trend says 78.0. Its 10 closest matches on deprivation lean longer-lived: 9 of them above it, a median of 79.2.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, 2022/2024, by health region. Deprivation: Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation 2021 (situational vulnerability), averaged over each region’s towns by their residents; income: 2021 Census median household income, averaged the same way. The averages and the line are TownRatings calculations.
The wider area
Life expectancy across the 34 health regions in Ontario
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in Ontario, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
77.9
years at birth, 2022/2024
19.5
more years expected at 65
30th
longest of 34 regions in Ontario
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
York Regional Health Unit86.3
Peel Regional Health Unit85.3
Halton Regional Health Unit84.9
City of Toronto Health Unit84.7
City of Ottawa Health Unit83.7
Waterloo Health Unit82.8
Durham Regional Health Unit82.6
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Health Unit82.4
Middlesex-London Health Unit81.9
Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington Health Unit81.8
Huron Perth Health Unit81.7
Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit81.5
Grey Bruce Health Unit81.3
Windsor-Essex County Health Unit81.3
City of Hamilton Health Unit81.2
Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit81.2
Niagara Regional Area Health Unit81.2
Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit81.0
Renfrew County and District Health Unit81.0
The Eastern Ontario Health Unit81.0
Oxford Elgin St. Thomas Health Unit80.6
Peterborough County—City Health Unit80.5
Brant County Health Unit80.4
Lambton Health Unit80.0
North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit80.0
Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit79.8
Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit79.6
Sudbury and District Health Unit79.1
Chatham-Kent Health Unit78.6
The District of Algoma Health Unit77.9
Porcupine Health Unit77.3
Timiskaming Health Unit77.0
Thunder Bay District Health Unit76.5
Northwestern Health Unit73.7
This region is 30th longest-lived of 34 in Ontario, on a scale from 73.7 to 86.3 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability3.1
Economic dependency4.6
Ethno-cultural composition1.6
Situational vulnerability4.5
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Blind River’s residents live; they carry no weight in the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Towns its size
Blind River is 8th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (3,643 to 3,741 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 4.9 km.
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
What counts as a hospital. The facilities database merges provincial lists of different vintages; its hospitals include some with no emergency department, and a few are placed by postal code.
•
Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Blind River itself is the trip to care.
•
Who the survey asks. People on reserves and in institutions, full-time military members and the residents of Nunavik and Eeyou Istchee aren’t interviewed by the survey.
•
Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
•
Adjusted for age. The grade’s three survey shares are age-standardised to Canada’s adults, so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, while the survey charts show answers as given.
•
Distances are straight lines. They run from where residents live, not along roads, so they understate a drive; each dissemination area counts by its 2021 population.
Questions about health in Blind River
How is Blind River’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Blind River’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Blind River?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Blind River’s health region only: 80.4 years for women and 75.6 for men (2022/2024).
How healthy is Blind River?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 20% of adults.
How far is Blind River from a hospital?
In a straight line from where people in Blind River live: 2.8 km to a clinic, 30 km to a pharmacy.
Photo: Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0