Health in Bracebridge · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
54% of adults around Bracebridge rate their health very good or excellent
Women in the region live to 83.5 and men to 79.5, 81.5 years taken together (2022/2024). Closer to home, a hospital sits 4.3 km from the average resident of Bracebridge, about the norm of 3.7 km. Health gives Bracebridge a grade of B+, #476 of 866 in Ontario and #1,212 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
Ontario: 51% · Measured across the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit: very good or excellent health, chronic conditions, smokers and life expectancy
Chronic conditions
17%
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure: average share
Ontario: 17%
Smokers
12%
daily or occasional, age-standardised
Ontario: 11%
Life expectancy
81.5
at birth, 2022/2024
women 83.5 · men 79.5
Nearest hospital
4.3 km
residents’ average, straight line
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Health Grade
Bracebridge grades B+ 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 (54%)Better than 60% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (17%)Better than 53% of Canadian towns
Smokers (12%)Better than 77% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (81.5)Better than 64% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (4.3 km)Better than 75% 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: #476 of 866 in Ontario and #1,212 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.
For its deprivation
As long-lived as regions this deprived, if slightly longer
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Bracebridge’s region comes out on the trend.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
At 2.8 on the index, regions tend to reach 81.5 years (correlation −0.83, 102 regions), and the one Bracebridge belongs to reaches 81.5. The 10 regions scored most like it mostly do worse (8 of 10), with a median of 81.2.
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.
Conditions and habits
In the region, high blood pressure (20%) and diabetes (8%)
Long-term conditions and habits as the region’s adults reported them; the tick marks the province.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
High blood pressure
20%
Arthritis
26%
Diabetes
8%
Obese (self-reported)
34%
Mood disorder
13%
Anxiety disorder
13%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
12%
Smoke every day
9.3%
Heavy drinking
20%
Ontario
Self-reported obesity, 34%, tops Ontario (30%). More adults drink heavily, 20% to the province’s 17%.
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 Bracebridge, a hospital is 4.3 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Bracebridge’s own, not the region’s.
Hospital
4.3 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
3.9 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
4.2 km
residents’ average distance
2.0 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
Residents of Bracebridge travel further than most of the province: the typical town in Ontario is 3.3 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 3.7 km. The centre of population is 1.0 km from a hospital, but spread-out homes take the residents’ average to 4.3 km.
Around Bracebridge the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Gravenhurst is the furthest from care, 16 km to Bracebridge’s 4.3 km.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
•
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.
•
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.
•
Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Bracebridge shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
•
Who the survey asks. The health survey leaves out people living on reserves, full-time Canadian Forces members, people in institutions, and Nunavik and the Cree lands of James Bay.
•
Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
Questions about health in Bracebridge
How is Bracebridge’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Bracebridge’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Bracebridge?
Most of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s, though not all. Chronic conditions there average 17% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How far is Bracebridge from a hospital?
In a straight line from where people in Bracebridge live: 3.9 km to a clinic, 4.2 km to a pharmacy.
What is the life expectancy in Bracebridge?
There is no figure for Bracebridge alone; its health region’s is 83.5 for women and 79.5 for men in 2022/2024.
Photo: XeresNelro · CC BY-SA 4.0