Vancouver UGM working to keep community safe in this heat

Posted July 26, 2022 12:57 pm.

This stretch of hot weather has those helping vulnerable people in Vancouver on high alert.

Rachael Allen with the Union Gospel Mission says they’ll be looking to help people out on the Downtown Eastside.

“We have our outreach teams that are going out multiple times a day to do wellness checks … Are people showing signs of heat exhaustion or heat stroke?” she explained.

Tents are set up in the neighbourhood to help provide shade, and teams are handing out sunscreen, hats, and bottles of water. The team will also hand out flyers and spread the word in person about cooling centres and water fountains around the city.

“We also have our drop in space,” she explained. “That’s a respite for the for the hot weather. And we people can come in during the heat of the day to kind of seek some shade and some cool and just recuperate a bit in there.”

With the humidity, it’s expected to feel as high as 40 degrees in parts of the region. A lack of trees and shade in that area of the city heats up the concrete, Allen says, making everything feel even hotter.

“If you’re sitting on that all day long, you’re really at more of a risk for heatstroke and dehydration,” she explained, noting they’re being mindful about last summer’s deadly heat dome.

“We’re really concerned about that. And we want to do all that we can to make sure that this summer is way safer for folks than last summer was.”

⚠️ EXTREME WEATHER ALERT ⚠️ The weather in Metro Vancouver is expected to be as hot as 35°C this week. This won’t be easy for anyone and especially not for people struggling with homelessness.

Give now and help keep our neighbours safe this summer: https://t.co/q9mMzSYrSv pic.twitter.com/cxapN45mqz

— Union Gospel Mission (@ugm) July 26, 2022

She notes monitoring for heat stroke often isn’t top of mind for many people in the community.

“They’re struggling day to day, facing the barriers that come with experiencing homelessness, trying to think of where their next meal is going to come from or where they might rest their head for the night. A lot of them really aren’t thinking or prepared for these kinds of heat events.”

Another thing Allen worries about is energy insecurity.

“When folks maybe have to choose between electricity needed to have fans or AC running in their homes, or the money that they need to afford some food,” she described.