Little progress on long-term care A/C in Interior Health sites since 2021 heat dome

During the 2021 heat dome, Interior Health (IH) had 12 long-term care sites without cooling in residents’ rooms, and that’s still the case.

The number of long-term care facilities around B.C. without air conditioning during the heat dome was recently made public thanks to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act request by a member of the media.

The documents show during the heat dome, in June 2021, IH had 29 long-term care sites with cooling in residents’ rooms, one site where most residential rooms didn’t have cooling, and 12 sites with no cooling in residents’ rooms.

Asked this week whether the number of facilities without air conditioning in residents’ rooms had changed, the health authority said there are still 12 IH facilities that do not have cooling for residents’ rooms.

2:08 Learning lessons from last year’s heat dome

However, Interior Health says all long-term care homes in the region have air conditioning in common areas and further air conditioning upgrades are in the works.

“Funding has been approved for upgrading cooling systems in high-priority long-term care sites in Interior Health,” the agency said in a statement to Global News.

“However, the upgrades are a work in progress due to a number of factors, including lengthy delays from suppliers and the shortage of workers who can do this work. Interior Health’s priority is to ensure residents in long-term care are safe and comfortable and will continue to work on the upgrades as resources come available.”

The Hospital Employees Union (HEU), which represents over 20,000 workers in the seniors’ care sector, called the lack of progress disappointing.

“All seniors and residents in long-term care deserve to be safe and comfortable in their rooms. We know that heat can have a real impact on seniors’ health. It’s disappointing to learn that Interior Health has not improved air cooling in resident rooms since the heat dome in 2021,” said HEU secretary business manager Meena Brisard, in a written statement.

“Improving air cooling for residents would make for safer care for seniors.”

Across B.C. more than 600 people died due to extreme heat in the summer of 2021.

Of those, 40 received their heat “injury” while in a seniors’ facility or long-term care.

2:20 Calls for air conditioning units in all Quebec long-term care homes to face heat wave