Climate change is a public health threat with grave consequences for many communities across BC. Climate events such as extreme heat, flooding, and wildfires can result in changes to physical and mental health, increased food insecurity, financial harms, and new infectious diseases. These consequences are felt even more keenly for populations experiencing inequities. The Foundation proudly supports programs that research the health impacts of these climate events. Such research helps to ensure that there is data to support policy change, and ultimately, that we can learn from climate events of the past, to save lives in the future.
A New Way to Monitor Extreme Heat
Dr Sarah Henderson is the Scientific Director of Environmental Health Services at BC Centre for Disease Control. Her role is to oversee applied research, surveillance, and knowledge translation, to support evidence-based public health policy, programs, and practice in BC and throughout Canada. She and her team work to research the impacts of climate change, and propose changes that will make our lives healthier and safer.
When asked why she thinks this work is so important, Dr Henderson pointed to the heat dome experienced in BC five years ago as a turning point in her career. “The 2021 heat dome was the largest mass casualty event we’ve ever had in the province. That’s not acceptable, and the systems have to change. That event hit me very hard both personally and professionally, and my mantra ever since has been ‘not again on my watch.’” She notes that there was a 100% increase in deaths among adults aged 50 or older, most of whom had chronic health conditions, especially schizophrenia, substance use disorders, kidney disease, heart disease, and respiratory disease.
This catastrophic event — when western Canada experienced temperatures up to 20 degrees above normal, and set 103 all-time heat records — resulted in 619 heat-related deaths between June 25 and July 1. Most deaths occurred inside private homes, where heat can get trapped as the outdoor temperature rises, if there is no air conditioning.
The lack of information on the indoor temperatures in different types of homes — including mobile homes and RV’s — is what prompted Dr Henderson and her team to create the Sentinel Indoor Temperature Network (SITNet). The program, a first of its kind in Canada, using cellular-connected sensors to monitor indoor temperatures in homes across the province. SITNet allows public health practitioners to better understand the risk of indoor overheating during hot weather.
SITNet selected most participants from a sample of low-income residents without air conditioning who provided permission to be contacted when participating in the BC COVID-19 SPEAK Surveys (an initiative funded by the Foundation). The project began in 2024, and has since expanded to include 120 participants across the province.
The Impact of SITNet
“We are expecting a much hotter summer in 2026, and we think that SITNet will continue to be very valuable. I look at the absolute temperature in people’s homes, and also the patterns over time. We know that the real risk comes when we see steady day-over-day increases in peak and overnight temperatures.” How can the information from SITNet benefit the health of BC residents? By gathering data that highlights the risks of indoor overheating in homes without air conditioning, leading to policy change. Already, this work has influenced the adoption of bylaw 8556 in New Westminster, which requires the owners of rental units make sure that at least one room in every dwelling maintains a safe indoor temperature (26 °C or less) in the summer.
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The Foundation is proud to support work like SITNet, which helps to address a potentially deadly public health issue. Please donate to help us to continue funding impactful work that helps everyone, including our most vulnerable, here in BC.
