No travel grants for medical appointments in SW Ontario

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When Amherstburg resident Alyssa Drouillard took her three-year-old daughter to the London Health Sciences Centre Children’s Hospital in 2021, she carried with her an X-ray that showed Harper had a broken bone in her spine. 

Harper had a broken the L4 vertebrae. She had fallen over a few days earlier and had been in pain, but why had that bone – one of the two lowest and largest vertebrae in the spine – broken from a simple fall backwards?

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In fact, the bone had suffered “complete destruction,” said Drouillard in an interview with the Windsor Star. 

But there was no explanation of why the bone had such catastrophic failure. 

The answer soon came as shock. Harper was suffering from a rare form of cancer known as Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH). Most common in children, immune cells build up in the body, often in bones, which weakens them. 

The pair remained in London for a week while more tests were conducted. Over the next few weeks, months and years, Drouillard, who had a newborn daughter and was on maternity leave at the time, made countless trips to London for care. 

The costs – gasoline, accommodation, meals – added up. Now she wonders why residents in Southwestern Ontario who must travel outside their own region for health care area cannot access a travel grant from the provincial government similar to the grant available to northern Ontario residents. 

“Having a travel grant, especially for families that are making the trip and are having to pay for stays, who are having to pay for food, would make that burden a little bit easier,” Drouillard told the Windsor Star. 

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Residents who live in Parry Sound and farther north can access the Northern Health Travel Grant Program for reimbursement of the costs of travel, meals and some accommodation if they must travel more than 100 kilometres and are referred to a Health Ministry-funded institution for specialty medical services that are not available locally. 

“When you’re talking about things like cancer or a diagnosis, that means you’re frequently going to London or Toronto for care. Those totals add up,” said Drouillard 

She estimates she spent thousands of dollars on those trips. 

Some families have no other option than to travel for health care, she said. “Even if it is two hours, the expense incurred for families is not always manageable. Thank goodness we had people that can help out, but not everybody has that.” 

The Northern Travel Grant, which supports about 66,000 people making trips for health care each year, is available whether residents travel by car, air, bus or rail. Regardless of the mode of transportation the grant pays 41 cents per kilometre, provided the trip is at least 100 kilometres one way from their home. 

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An accommodation allowance is also available from $175–$1,150, based on the number of medically necessary lodging nights declared by the provider. 

More than 5,000 trips are made from Windsor and Essex County to London Health Sciences Centre and Children’s Hospital each for pediatric treatment alone. 

A trip from south Windsor to the London hospital is 188 kilometres one way. From Tecumseh it’s 183 kilometres, from Amherstburg it’s 209 kilometres and from Essex it’s 177 kilometres. 

But the population in the northern part of the province is much lower than in southern Ontario, about 790,000 people or about six per cent of the province’s population, covering an area of more than 800,000 square miles, so those seeking health care not available in their communities must sometimes travel great distances. 

Ontario’s Health Ministry and local Progressive Conservative MPPs say the circumstances are different in northern Ontario, with greater distances, fewer highways and at times severe weather. They say the province has invested millions of dollars to make more health care services available in Southwestern Ontario. 

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“People in northern Ontario would be surprised at suggesting a comparison between their travel conditions and conditions in southern Ontario,” said Essex MPP Anthony Leardi (PC–Essex) in an email to The Windsor Star. 

“Northern Ontario has few multi-lane highways, little passenger rail service, and infrequent air connections. Northern Ontarians must also contend with large geographic distances that are frequently blocked by snow or fog.

“Travelling in northern Ontario is vastly different than travelling in southern Ontario,” Leardi said. 

In an e-mail, MPP Andrew Dowie (PC–Windsor-Tecumseh) also noted the larger distances. “The accessibility and proximity of health care we have, and particularly relative to small and rural communities in Northern Ontario who must drive hundreds of kilometres for a substantial amount of their health-care services, is a tremendous quality of life attribute that keeps Windsor-Essex an incredible place to call home,” Dowie said. 

Dowie, Leardi and an email response from the Health Ministry’s W.D. Lighthall stressed the province has invested heavily in health care to reduce the travel for specialist care, including pending construction of a new acute-care hospital in Windsor that is expected to cost more than $2 billion. Construction is expected to get underway in mid-to-late 2026. 

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The province has invested $4.5 million to expand access to pediatric care in Windsor, the Health Ministry said.   

“This includes increasing the number of children who can be seen, triaged and cared for on-site in the emergency department at Windsor Regional Hospital by expanding an after-hours pediatric emergency diversion clinic to seven days a week at the Windsor Regional Hospital Metropolitan Campus. 

“That will expedite care by reducing the amount of time pediatric patients spend in the emergency department.” 

The province is also funding a $31-million improvement to the hospital’s cardiac catheterization lab, the ministry said. That is expected to reduce the number of patients sent to other facilities for the procedure. 

Dowie also points out the province is spending $1.8 million annually to double the WRH’s capacity to two machines. Erie Shores Healthcare also has an MRI. 

And he says the 68 mental-health care beds at WRH are being moved to Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare to create one point of entry for patients. 

Drouillard says Harper is now cancer free, but she must still make trips to London for check-ups.

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Kait Lowe, whose son Sullivan has Hirschsprung’s disease, which affects the large intestine, has made multiple trips to London and Detroit for specialist consultations and surgeries. She thinks there should be some support for those who have to travel for needed health care. 

“As a parent who has relied on hospitals in London and Detroit for my son’s emergency and ongoing care, I can tell you first-hand how difficult this has been, both financially and emotionally,” she said. 

When a parent accompanies a child for out-of-town care, they face hotel charges if Ronald McDonald House is full – a common occurrence – and they pay for gas and food, she said. 

“I can’t understand why we wouldn’t have a health travel grant to help offset some of the costs of medical travel, considering we have no choice but to leave to access the care our children need and can’t obtain locally.

“If over 5,000 of us have to depend on LHSC for our children annually, why can’t we have some help?” 

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