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 Centre for Addictionand Mental Health |
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If you can’t stand the heat, get on the Heat Registry!CAMH participates in partnership that delivers Canada’s first heat registry Early one July morning, a day in which Toronto Public Health issued an extreme heat alert, Paul Koskinen sits at a desk in the offices of Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre (PARC) preparing to help Parkdale area residents beat the heat. A former CAMH client, Paul is a Heat Registry Peer Outreach Worker with Canada’s first heat registry program, the West End Heat Registry and Heat Response Project. The pilot project is led by PARC and is supported by Toronto Public Health and the West End Urban Health Alliance (WEUHA), of which CAMH is a member. Local people who have volunteered information about their heat risk are contacted during a heat alert, either by phone or in person, and offered support. Peer workers were given training to sharpen their outreach, communication, and heat assessment skills. The peers are able to recognize and respond to heat-related illnesses and perform the registrations and follow-ups. Clinicians from area agencies, such as CAMH’s Archway clinic, may also add clients to the registry.
Work on the project began during the chilly days of last November when PARC assembled a working group of representatives from health and social service agencies serving the needs of west-end residents, in particular psychiatric survivors, those who are homeless and marginally-housed, and other at-risk people. While the cold kills 105 people in Toronto a year, the heat kills 120. Bob Rose, PARC Program Director says, “We were aware of the tragedies that occurred in other cities, like Chicago, when at-risk people had to face extreme heat situations without support. We thought that it would be a case of adapting heat response registries created by other cities to use here. But no other city had put anything together, so we developed our own program, beginning with a heat risk assessment tool.” CAMH’s Community Support and Research Unit’s (CSRU), which is also responsible for CAMH’s internal heat response plan, is a natural fit for the pilot’s working group. CSRU’s Community Support, Development and Research Specialist Kimberly Schonewille calls the project “a great health promotion strategy” for the participants. “It was a great opportunity for people from various agencies to get to know each other and our programs while creating the tools together. We could each speak to the issues facing our clients,” she said. This pilot project not only manages and alleviates heat risks for vulnerable residents, it provides employment opportunities for the peer workers and informs WEUHA agencies’ frontline staff how to change their daily practice during extreme heat periods. For Paul Koskinen, who found the peer outreach position through CAMH Employment Support and Development, the project has provided him with a real sense of accomplishment that other jobs have not. “I’ve seen the impact this program has had on the neighbourhood and I derive a great deal of satisfaction being able to help other people,” he says.
PARC’s Heat Project Coordinator Tanya Gulliver says that at-risk clients find it more palatable to get advice from peers rather than healthcare workers. Those at greatest risk for heat stress are seniors, people with mental health issues, those with chronic illnesses (cardiopulmonary, diabetes), mobility issues and social isolation. The peers are also able to tell clients about other social supports, such as food banks and drop-in centres, when the opportunity presents itself in a non-threatening way. “Meeting and getting to know the participants has brought home to me how much people in this neighbourhood really care about each other,” says Paul Koskinen. Anyone wishing to join the registry should contact PARC at 416-537-2262. |
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Last updated: Jul 23, 2008 1:44 PM Published: Dec 02, 2008 12:11 PM ID#P38034 |