Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) has resources available to inform the public during the current heat wave.
Meriko Kubota, senior policy lead for healthy public policy, with the office of the chief medical health officer, stated in an email that for example, Powell River Public Library is an official cooling centre in City of Powell River. Library hours are: Monday, 10 am to 6 pm; Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 am to 8:30 pm; Thursday, 10 am to 6 pm; Friday, 10 am to 8:30 pm; Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm; Sunday, 1 to 5 pm.
Kubota stated that VCH has a healthy environments and climate change team and they have developed many materials for heat over the last year. They are all found at vch.ca/heat.
VCH has produced a poster related to extreme heat, indicating that some people are more affected than others. Those who may need extra care include those older than 60, people who live alone, people with certain health conditions or disabilities, people who use substances, people on certain medications, people who are pregnant and young children, according to the poster.
Signs of heat exhaustion include: skin rash; heavy sweating; dizziness; feeling sick or throwing up; rapid breathing and heartbeat; headache; trouble concentrating; muscle cramps; extreme thirst; dark urine, and urinating less. Anyone with these signs is prompted to move to a cool space, drink plenty of water, and cool the skin down with water.
Signs of heat stroke include: high body temperature; drowsiness or fainting; confusion; coordination issues; very hot and red skin. Anyone with these signs should result in a 9-1-1 call. Those afflicted should be submerged in cool water, or have their clothing removed and be covered in wet towels.
The poster states that the best way to prevent heat-related illness is to spend time in a cool space.
People are urged to cool off, keep spaces cool, to check in on the vulnerable, to dress for the heat, to hydrate and to plan ahead and stay informed of heat trends.
VCH indicated that it also knows from a prevention lens that often during warmer weather, windows are opened and left open, which poses risks of falls for small children. VCH recommends that people always supervise children around open windows, to install a window opening control so that windows don’t open more than 10 centimetres, and to place furniture away from windows to discourage children from climbing.
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