Although across the province, hospitals are dealing with staffing shortages, hospitals in Ontario’s north west – in Kenora, Fort Frances, Rainy River, and Emo – are among those most challenged to retain and attract skilled staff.

With Ontario hospital staff turnover rates doubling and paramedics struggling due to rapid increase in call volumes, hospital staff and area paramedics are warning that the depth of the hospital staffing crisis will worsen and that patient access to care is in peril under the provincial government’s current course, which includes the elimination of more than $1.6 Billion in special COVID-19 funding.