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Mobile hospital room kicks off provincial tour to fight superbugs in North Bay Friday
NORTH BAY, Ont. Although medical experts are blaming hospital overcrowding (resulting from cuts to patient beds) for infection outbreaks particularly outbreaks of antibiotic- resistant superbugs the Ontario government plans to cut another 5,000 acute care beds province-wide. Currently, hospital bed occupancy is at record levels, over 97 per cent.
Studies show that healthcare-associated infections kill between 8,000 and 12,000 Canadians a year 40 per cent of these deaths are in Ontario.
Many of these deaths are preventable, says Michael Hurley, the president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). Hurley will join North Bay General Hospital staff who are members of CUPE at a media conference in North Bay, Friday, March 4, 2011 at 11:00 a.m. at the North Bay Legion to kick off a provincial campaign to raise awareness about superbug prevention.
A mobile hospital room display will be set up as part of the media conference to demonstrate the effective and thorough cleaning required to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
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For more information, please contact:
Michael Hurley President, OCHU/CUPE (416) 884-0770
Stella Yeadon CUPE Communications (416) 559-9300
