Officials with the regional health network, which oversees health care in this part of Ontario, say they have been watching overcrowding at local hospitals with concern. Both the Queensway Carleton and The Ottawa Hospital, the city’s major health-care centre, have been over capacity in recent months. Outside of Ottawa, the Cornwall Community Hospital has been as high as an eye-popping 138 per cent.
The overcapacity crisis is partly due to the season — winter brings more cases of flu and respiratory illnesses, and this year has been a bad one. But the situation also reflects a growing demographic reality: The long-predicted grey tsunami, as baby boomers enter the later stages of life, has arrived at the shores of Ottawa’s hospitals. And it’s only going to get worse, experts predict.
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