Rideau-Vanier tops the list of noise complaints per year, according to Thamar Spitzer’s analysis of Ottawa 311 service calls. The 3,399 noise complaints in 2016, are four times the average complaints of other wards in Ottawa.

When it comes to reporting noise complaints in the capital, “the city isn’t as effective as it should be,” says Councillor Mathieu Fleury of the Rideau-Vanier ward. “In my mind, it’s very unfortunate.”

Although the number of Ottawa-311 complaint calls, originating from Rideau-Vanier, have gone down this past year, more than two-thirds of these calls were incidents of loud music.

The bylaw says that music that disturbs others between 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. on a weeknight, 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday until noon, is considered a violation. Violations can also occur as a result of a shouting, musical instruments, radio, TV, dog barking, car alarms, machinery and aircraft noise. A noise level fine in Ottawa can cost anywhere from $400 to $10,000.

(Tamara Spitzer, 2017)

In hopes of reducing the number of Ottawa-311 noise complaint calls, the Town and Gown committee, founded by Fleury, has put pressure on the City of Ottawa. The Town and Gown committee is a joint effort between university students, community members, and local leaders.

The policy change creating a reverse onus situation in Sandy Hill—largely a student community in the Rideau-Vanier ward—has led, “neighbours to be more respectful of one another,” says Fleury. Instead of a bylaw officer filling out a report that a noise complaint ticket was issued, the officer has to file a report stating why there wasn’t a ticket issued if the complaint originates from Sandy Hill.

The Town and Gown committee runs activities during the orientation week when many University of Ottawa students return for the school year. In this year’s Welcome Week Walkabout, Fleury and his team knocked on over 200 residence doors for what Fleury says is an early warning system.

“It gives an opportunity for the advisers to speak to students,” says Fleury. “To get them to understand the importance of maintaining a high quality of life for an area.”

The committee which was founded five years ago, launched a noise complaint website that, “more effectively tracks and facilitates noise complaints,” says Fleury. The ‘Noise in Sandy Hill’ website has been up for almost a year now and caters to residents that have already called Ottawa-311.

Fleury says it’s a double-sided coin. While community efforts to reduce noise pollution have been considerably successful, “there is a higher risk factor by some residents in reporting the noise,” he says.

“You can only call so many times before you become the problem,” says Christian Marcoux, a reporter for Perspectives Vanier. “I’m clueless as to why there has been a decrease in noise complaints,” he says.

Marcoux, who’s been working in the ward for the past 15 years, says, that the luxury of complaining about loud music existed only when the ward was safer.

Suggesting that there’s a correlation between noise and crime, Marcoux says, “You might not complain about the noise if you got a drug dealer on your corner or an arsonist in the community.”

To compare to a few other wards, West-Carleton-March is the quietest area, with a mere 107 noise complaints, 97 per cent less than that of Rideau-Vanier. Kanata South had 401 noise complaints and Alta Vista had 666.

 

 

The same treatment at a hospital will cost you up to 51 per cent more, depending on what Canadian province or Territory you’re in. An analysis, done by Tamara Spitzer with data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), showed the growing increase in the difference in costs of an average hospital stay.  It also marks a continued trend in the increase of health care costs across Canada.

The average cost of a hospital stay in Canada costs $6,098 in 2016, jumping almost 5 per cent from last year’s average cost of $5,820. This staggeringly high number is more than the total increase of the past 5 years combined. Not only has the average cost drastically increased, but the disparity of cost per province and territory continues to grow.

The financial burden of a hospital stay in Canada varies greatly from province to province to territory. Take the Yukon. An average hospital stay in this territory costs  $8,094 while in New Brunswick it costs $5,339. The 51 per cent difference in cost accounts for inefficiencies in provincial and territorial health care systems.

https://infogram.com/health-care-1g8e20d53e6qmod

Riley Denver, a CIHI  specialist says that the reason these costs, “vary among peers and over time, is an acknowledgment to many factors including staff mix and facility size and classification.”

Smaller hospitals tend to have a higher running cost. The smaller the size, the more remote the hospital, and the higher cost of labour in certain provinces and territories, all point to the large variation in the average cost of a hospital stay. This however, doesn’t explain why the margin is growing.

The cost of an average hospital stay is neither linked to the quality of care a patient is receiving. The Yukon, which has the highest cost of an average hospital stay, also has the highest percentage of patients experiencing worsened pain over long-term care.

The Yukon also has one of the country’s lowest rates of hospital per person in Canada. Its three hospitals are designed to take care of a population of 35,874. Furthermore, the Yukon also has the highest administration costs across Canada, more than doubling that of New Brunswick.

In a time where healthcare consumers -patients- are more informed than ever, Canadians are taking these costs into account.

“I would certainly consider relocating if I could access a treatment that was more accessible there than in Ontario,” says Brett Parnell, who’s studied medical tourism and travel services. He says that although the cost would be a determining factor, it wouldn’t be the only one.

The average Canadian costs of a hospital stay still remains largely cheaper than those of the States which, according to the Agency for Healthcare and Research Quality, costs on average of  $13,190.

https://infogram.com/health-care-1g8e20d53e6qmod

Recently released census information indicates, an ever growing Canadian narrative; the aging population is putting more and more strain on healthcare systems. With an all time high standing cost of hospital stay and an all time high variability of health care costs, resolving health care gaps could is the answer to an equitable system.

This is a test from Tamara Spitzer.