Heat, Haze & Helpful Hints

Yesterday, Colin Van De Wetering, a Registered Respiratory Therapist and Certified Respiratory Educator, joined our Monthly Meet-Up to help answer your questions and share some advice on managing pulmonary hypertension through the heat, wildfire smoke, and power outages that happen so often in the summer months. Here are a few tips from that discussion.

Indoor air quality

• If heat or smoke keeps you indoors, see if you can run your furnace fan all the time. This pulls the air through the filter more often than if the fan only runs while the air conditioning unit is running. A good furnace filter (changed regularly) can help too but check the manual to see what kinds are best for your system.

• Air purifiers can be expensive but helpful.

Planning for power outages

• Your power company may have a list of "vulnerable" users. See if you can be added to that list so they're more likely to tell you about planned outages and respond quickly to unplanned outages.

• If you’re in a multi-residential building and don’t leave your home often enough to reliably see notices posted in the elevator or lobby, ask if your landlord can give you special notice of any power-related work.

• If you use oxygen, plan for power outages. Can you use a portable, battery-powered oxygen concentrator for short outages? Can you evacuate to a local hospital (where they have generators and oxygen) during longer outages?

Planning for emergencies

• Let your local firefighters know about your situation so they can prioritize you.

• Have a go-bag for emergencies, including oxygen (if you need it) and medications, and keep it near the door. Medications can be in different places around the home and can take time to gather up in an emergency. Check the expiry dates of medications in your go-bag regularly and replace them as necessary.

• In various regions of Ontario, the paramedics’ Cool-Aid program provides an easily identifiable fridge-door pouch to hold important medical information. Paramedics know to look for this pouch, just as they know to look for Medic-Alert bracelets and the like. Similar programs may exist elsewhere in Canada.

• Have regular check-ins with family or other supporters who can and will follow up if they don’t hear from you.

Forecasters say most of Canada is likely to stay hot and hazy through the summer and well into autumn. Keep safe! And many thanks to Colin and the other Meet-Up participants for sharing their tips.