Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainAround Vernon River, 51% of adults call their health very good or excellent
Women in the region live to 83.3 and men to 79.1, 81.2 years taken together (2022/2024). For Vernon River itself the measure is access, and it lags: 15 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Vernon River grades B− for health, #10 of 12 on Prince Edward Island and #1,972 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Vernon River
A long way to hospital
For 0% of homes in Vernon River the nearest hospital is over 30 km off; from the town’s centre of population it is 17 km. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Vernon River 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.
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: #10 of 12 on Prince Edward Island and #1,972 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.
From Vernon River, a hospital is 15 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Vernon River’s own, not the region’s.
From Vernon River that is further than the 8.5 km of the typical town on Prince Edward Island, and the 3.7 km of the typical Canadian town.
Hospitals and clinics: Statistics Canada, Open Database of Healthcare Facilities. Pharmacies: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Straight-line distances from each dissemination area, weighted by its 2021 population.
Just under the trend for regions as deprived
Every town shares its health region’s figures, so this compares 102 regions; the one holding Vernon River’s lies near the line.
The line through 102 regions (correlation −0.83) gives a score of 2.8 about 81.6 years; Vernon River’s region’s 81.2 is within a year of it. Its 10 closest matches on deprivation lean shorter-lived: 5 of them below it, a median of 81.1. Its towns’ household income, about $74,000, sits below most regions’ while its life expectancy sits above; across regions it is the deprivation index, not income, that follows lives (income’s correlation: 0.14).
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.
High blood pressure for 22% of adults in the region, diabetes for 9.3%
What the survey finds on conditions, weight and habits for the region, the province as the tick.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
Habits · 2023/2024
About as many adults report obesity as across Prince Edward Island: 37%, the province 37%.
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.
Life expectancy in the region: 81.2 years
Regional life expectancy on Prince Edward Island, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes Vernon River’s own areas, averaged over residents, on each of its four dimensions.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Self-rated health much as in Prince Edward Island: 50% to 50%
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
The region’s 50% in very good or excellent mental health is within reach of Prince Edward Island’s 50%, with 19% reporting stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, Vernon River is 29th nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 2,742 to 2,817 people, median 7.8 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kuujjuaq QC | 2,766 | 0.7 km | – |
| 2 | Kameyosek AB B+ | 2,761 | 0.7 km | 51% |
| 3 | Grimshaw AB C− | 2,799 | 1.3 km | 48% |
| 27 | Gore QC A | 2,756 | 14 km | 60% |
| 28 | Saint-Prime QC A | 2,808 | 14 km | 66% |
| 29 | Vernon River PE B− | 2,779 | 15 km | 51% |
| 30 | Sainte-Luce QC B+ | 2,808 | 16 km | 60% |
| 31 | Rivière-Beaudette QC A− | 2,806 | 16 km | 55% |
| 40 | Atikokan ON D | 2,796 | 72 km | 44% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Vernon River
Nearby places: distance to a hospital and each one’s regional figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vernon River | 15 km | 51% | 81.2 | B− |
| East River, Part 1 11 km | 14 km | 51% | 81.2 | B− |
| Crossroads 11 km | 5.5 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Stratford 16 km | 4.5 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Belfast 17 km | 21 km | 51% | 81.2 | B− |
| North Shore 18 km | 7.4 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
Around Vernon River the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Residents of Stratford live nearer a hospital, at 4.5 km against 15 km in Vernon River.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. The survey figures and life expectancy are published for the health region, so every town in it shares them and only the distances are Vernon River’s own.
- Who the survey asks. Not everyone is in the survey’s sample: reserves, the Canadian Forces, institutions and two northern Québec regions are left out.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
Questions about health in Vernon River
How is Vernon River’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Vernon River has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Vernon River from a hospital?
In a straight line from where people in Vernon River live: 16 km to a clinic, 14 km to a pharmacy.
How healthy is Vernon River?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. Chronic conditions there average 17% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
What is the life expectancy in Vernon River?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 83.3 for women, 79.1 for men around Vernon River (2022/2024).
Sources: Statistics Canada, Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (13-10-0972) · Statistics Canada, life expectancy 2022/2024 (13-10-0988) · Statistics Canada, health regions 2023 (82-402-X) · Statistics Canada, Open Database of Healthcare Facilities · pharmacies © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Statistics Canada, Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation 2021. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).