Relentless heat wave pushes up death toll
As Environment Canada issued a smog and heat warning for the Montreal area Thursday, the number of potential deaths linked to the extreme heat wave hitting the province jumped to 33, Quebec public health officials said.
Of these, 18 died in Montreal from heat-related complications, up from 12 a day earlier; Montérégie had two deaths, the Eastern Townships had seven, Laval one and Mauricie five.
Most of the victims were men between the ages of 50 and 85 who lived alone in “heat islands” in highrise apartments with no air conditioning, or suffered from chronic health or precarious living conditions, including homelessness, mental health issues and substance use.
Even one death is too many, said Lucie Charlebois, the provincial public health minister, at a press conference Thursday. But some people are more vulnerable than others to extreme heat and smog, she said.
Charlebois defended the province’s emergency approach in the face of record-breaking temperatures.
None of the deaths occurred in a public long-term care nursing home, a centre d’hébergement et de soins de longue durée or in a hospital. Those who died were already suffering from health problems, she said.
Montreal’s civil protection agency door-to-door campaign visited more than 3,400 homes. Urgences-Santé logged 30 per cent more calls for help since the weekend. It responded to more than 1,200 calls and dispatched 695 ambulances.
“We’re doing the best we can,” Charlebois said. “All deaths are regrettable. We’d like to have no deaths at all, but every day people die.”
As for patients in hospitals and palliative care centres who are being told to bring their own fans, Charlebois said provisions have been made to move them into cooler common areas with air conditioning for a couple of hours a day to minimize the impact of the heat.
A 10-year plan to improve older, dilapidated facilities is now underway, Charlebois said. “But nothing can be done in 10 minutes.”
Meanwhile, everything is being done to ensure the comfort of patients and workers in health facilities without air conditioning, she said.
The criticism from the Coalition Avenir Québec and Parti Québécois Wednesday that her government failed to respond quickly enough to the heat wave, for example, by putting cooling units in every facility, “is indecent,” Charlebois said. The opposition is playing petty politics on the backs of the most vulnerable segment of the population, she said.
According to Dr. Mylène Drouin, head of the regional health authority, the extreme heat intervention plan was launched a day early because of a spike in visits to hospital emergency rooms. However, until the provincial coroner investigates, it will be difficult to say with certainty what caused the current wave of deaths, she added.
It’s not clear why Quebec seems to have had more deaths than provinces like Ontario, which is also in the grip of extreme heat and humidity. Quebec remains vigilant about recording heat-related deaths, but other provinces may have different reporting systems, Drouin said.
But those most at risk include the elderly and individuals with health conditions who are living in inner-city hot spots — areas with lots of asphalt and little vegetation. These heat islands can register temperatures five to 10 degrees higher than at the Dorval weather station, she said.
Floods, tornadoes, heat waves and extreme cold in winter are only expected to become more common, Drouin said. “Because we know that the vulnerable population has the most difficulties, we have to work on social determinants (of health) to lower poverty and make sure that those people have the resources to adapt to extreme events.”
The temperature in Montreal reached a high of 34 degrees Celsius on Thursday with a humidex value of 43 C, according to Environment Canada.
The heat wave was expected to break overnight Thursday to Friday.
Dr. Horacio Arruda, assistant deputy minister of health and social services, said warning signs of dehydration include dry skin and lips, fatigue, headaches, dizziness, dark urine and sunken eyes. Individuals should drink six to eight glasses of water per day, avoid alcoholic beverages, spend about two hours in a cool, air-conditioned environment and limit physical activities.