B.C. readies response ahead of heat wave

Province braces for summer’s second spell of extreme temperatures

VANCOUVER—British Columbia is gearing up for another heat wave this weekend by opening more cooling centres and redeploying health-care workers as temperatures are expected to soar.

Provincial Health Minister Adrian Dix said Friday that while more staff will be shifted to emergency rooms, work is underway to keep hospitals cool while workers in longterm-care facilities ensure people are hydrated.

“Managers have stepped up to work in hospital ERs to make sure people who need immediate medical attention get out of ambulances and into care as quickly as possible,” Dix said, noting residents in parts of the province are already experiencing poor air quality due to smoke from wildfires.

He called on citizens to “step up” during the heat wave by checking on isolated people including seniors and those living with chronic conditions

Dix also said jobs were being posted Friday for 85 paramedics and 30 dispatchers following complaints of 911 callers waiting for hours late last month, when the B.C. Coroners Service recorded 570 deaths due to extreme temperatures.

“The plan is in place to continue to improve and meet this extraordinary demand for ambulance services,” Dix added.

Environment Canada has issued a heat warning for the weekend but temperatures are not expected to reach the record highs of last month, when the mercury hit 31.7 C in Vancouver and a Canadian record of nearly 50 C in Lytton before a wildfire wiped out most of the community.

Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said the province will open civic centres so people can escape to a cool place if they lack air conditioning.

“Over the past week, Emergency Management BC has been working with local communities and First Nations to ensure they have the support that they need,” he said, adding the province would pay transportation costs for people to get to cooling centres in communities where scheduled or reasonable transit doesn’t exist.

Sarah Henderson, an environmental health scientist with the BC Centre for Disease Control, said seniors who live alone or those who have chronic health conditions are particularly vulnerable to dehydration, heat stroke and heat exhaustion so those around them should watch for symptoms like dizziness, fainting and confusion.

“We know from the global literature, and from heat waves that have occurred elsewhere, that one of the most dangerous things during a heat wave is social isolation,” she said.

“When we have passive indoor heat it can become dangerously overwhelming without people even realizing it,” Henderson said.