B.C. Chief Coroner says air conditioning should be essential in homes
Posted July 28, 2021 8:22 pm.
Last Updated July 28, 2021 10:34 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — The province’s chief coroner believes fewer people would have died during a recent record-breaking heatwave if their homes had air conditioning.
Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe confirms with NEWS 1130, 570 deaths are directly linked to a recent heatwave. And she admits, “I am nervous knowing what happened last time.”
These deaths were reported from June 25 through to July 1. According to Lapointe, 79 per cent were people older than 65 and 40 per cent were older than 80.
She adds that more of the people who died were living independently, but many were living with families or with someone. While many died in their own homes, she says some did pass away in hospital.
However, Lapointe says more details on the fatalities will be provided later.
“Knowing the tragic impacts of that heat. I am nervous that there are still people who just may not realize how much risk they’re in or may have limited options.”
Related Articles:
-
B.C. health officials, experts urging people be vigilant amid upcoming heatwave
-
B.C.’s chief coroner reviewing provincial response to deadly heatwave: Dix
-
Vancouver urban planner says air conditioning should be considered essential
So, LaPointe is suggesting all new homes have central air and existing ones be retrofitted to add air conditioning.
“People think of home as a safe place. We recognize extreme cold if we were in our house, and we had no heat. And we were expecting sustained below zero temperatures for days at a time, we would recognize that as a serious risk, particularly for older people who are more frail. We weren’t sensing heat as the same risk. But now we are.
“We now know that extreme heat in our province can be very fatal for our old and more vulnerable residents.”
LaPointe says because many multi-storey apartment buildings and condos in the Lower Mainland are not necessarily designed with extreme heat in mind, “we’ll be bringing in some subject matter experts to help us with recommendations to prevent deaths in the future,” after analysis is done.
“Given climate change, and we are experiencing different weather now — air conditioning will become something that is necessary in every new build, and we need to retrofit our older buildings. And if that’s what it takes to save lives, then that’s what we’re going to have to do. You can’t imagine a building being built without heat. That’s an essential and maybe moving forward, air conditioning will also need to be an essential.”
For now, she says to check on your older friends, family and neighbours. And if their living area is not ideal, she says, “Get them out of there as best you can, to a cooler spot.”
“I would say that the best information we have now is that we have warnings. So we know now that this weekend is going to be very hot. And we know that we need to look out for our elderly loved ones and neighbours and make sure that we help them stay as cool as possible.”
