Health in Pessamit · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
More adults feel healthy around Pessamit: 61% say very good or excellent (52% for the typical Canadian town)
Across the region, life runs to 79.4 years on average: women 82.1, men 77.0, in 2022/2024. The town’s own part is the trip to care: residents of Pessamit live 39 km from a hospital on average, and 100% of them more than 30 km. Pessamit is a First Nations reserve: a Health grade is possible, an overall grade and a ranking are not. The health survey doesn’t interview people living on reserves, so these regional figures describe the surrounding region, not Pessamit. The Health grade for Pessamit is B−.
Distance is Pessamit’s own health question: 100% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 39 km. Getting care ↓
Life expectancy below the norm
Pessamit’s region sits 2.1 years below the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 19.4 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
A region that smokes more
Smoking is commoner around Pessamit than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 11% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
No pharmacy close by
From the average home in Pessamit, a pharmacy is 40 km away, a longer trip than most Canadians make for medicine. Getting care ↓
From Statistics Canada: the health survey and life expectancy for the health region, the deprivation index for the town; distances from the healthcare facilities database and OpenStreetMap.
Health Grade
Pessamit 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 (61%)Better than 93% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (15%)Better than 80% of Canadian towns
Smokers (15%)Better than 26% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (79.4)Better than 32% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (39 km)Better than 5% 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.
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.
Getting care
The nearest hospital is 39 km from the average home in Pessamit
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Pessamit’s own, not the region’s.
Hospital
39 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
27 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
40 km
residents’ average distance
0.0 within 3 km of a typical home
More than 30 km from a hospital
100%
share of residents
Emergency
911
police, fire, ambulance; 811 for health advice in most provinces
Compared with 5.3 km for the typical town in Quebec and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Pessamit is on the far side.
Life expectancy across the 18 health regions in Quebec
Regional life expectancy in Quebec, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
79.4
years at birth, 2022/2024
19.4
more years expected at 65
15th
longest of 18 regions in Quebec
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Région de Laval84.1
Région de Montréal83.4
Région de la Capitale-Nationale82.9
Région de l'Estrie82.9
Région de la Chaudière-Appalaches82.8
Région de la Montérégie82.5
Région des Laurentides82.2
Région de Lanaudière82.0
Région du Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean81.8
Région du Bas-Saint-Laurent81.7
Région de la Mauricie et du Centre-du-Québec81.6
Région de l'Outaouais80.7
Région de la Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine79.9
Région de l'Abitibi-Témiscamingue79.5
Région de la Côte-Nord79.4
Région du Nord-du-Québec78.1
Région des Terres-Cries-de-la-Baie-James76.8
Région du Nunavik65.2
Of the 18 health regions in Quebec, 15th place goes to this one, between a low of 65.2 and a high of 84.1.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability3.1
Economic dependency4.1
Ethno-cultural composition3.0
Situational vulnerability5.0
Higher means more deprived: the bars average the quintiles of the areas Pessamit’s residents live in, and none of them counts toward Health.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Conditions and habits
In the region, high blood pressure (22%) and diabetes (9.1%)
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
22%
Arthritis
21%
Diabetes
9.1%
Obese (self-reported)
37%
Mood disorder
7.5%
Anxiety disorder
10%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
15%
Smoke every day
11%
Heavy drinking
25%
Flu shot in the past year
29%
Quebec
Self-reported obesity, 37%, tops Quebec (29%). More adults drink heavily, 25% to the province’s 22%.
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.
For its deprivation
Deprivation predicts less: the region outlives the trend by 1.2 years
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Pessamit’s region is above the line.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
Measured against 102 regions, more deprivation means shorter lives, and steadily so (correlation −0.83). Pessamit’s region, at 3.7, outlives the trend’s 78.2 years with 79.4. The 10 regions scored most like it mostly do worse (8 of 10), with a median of 78.2.
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.
Health survey
Self-rated health much as in Quebec: 59% to 56%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Health very good or excellent
59%
Health fair or poor
13%
Mental health very good or excellent
70%
Mental health fair or poor
6.6%
Most days quite a bit stressful
16%
Strong sense of belonging
73%
Satisfied with life
91%
Quebec
Mental health looks better than in the province too: 70% rate it very good or excellent, against 64% in Quebec, and 16% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
What counts as a hospital. A “hospital” here is whatever the provinces listed as one in Statistics Canada’s database, which can mean a site without an emergency department.
•
Deprivation is context. Deprivation is shown to set the scene and doesn’t count toward the grade; Statistics Canada left the territories out of the index.
•
Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
•
Distances are straight lines. Roads, rivers and ferries aren’t in it: the figure is a straight line from where people live, averaged over residents.
•
Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Pessamit itself is the trip to care.
Questions about health in Pessamit
How far is Pessamit from a hospital?
In a straight line from where people in Pessamit live: 27 km to a clinic, 40 km to a pharmacy.
How is Pessamit’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Pessamit: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town. Being a First Nations reserve, it has no overall grade or ranking, and its regional survey figures come from people living off reserve.
How healthy is Pessamit?
The region does better than the typical Canadian town on most regional measures, with at least one exception. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 15%.
What is the life expectancy in Pessamit?
For the health region that includes Pessamit, women can expect 82.1 years and men 77.0 (2022/2024).
Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0