
United Way British Columbia awarded an Emergency Preparedness and Response grant of $25,000 to Quadra Circle.
“We’re pretty excited about it. We are a group of various social service and community organizations on Quadra,” said Maureen McDowell, President of Quadra Circle.
Quadra Circle’s ‘Better at Home Program,’ the Quadra Island Neighbourhood Emergency Preparedness Program (NEPP), Quadra Island Seniors Housing, Quadra Legion Branch 154, Quadra ICAN, Old Age Pensioners and the Quadra Island Medical Clinic are all involved.
“On Quadra, we have a very good Neighborhood Emergency Preparedness Program. There are volunteers in each neighborhood who know who the more vulnerable people are, and are able to reach out to them and see if they need help. They would plug us into those seniors if the seniors are willing to accept some extra help, or equipment in their homes. So we can make stronger, more efficient use of those resources that we have already in a more coordinated way.”
“We’ll have a coordinator, at least for this project, who will help us take those action steps and make sure that all the systems are operating together and sharing information.”
McDowell said the situation was already on their minds, “Especially during the heat dome. Then in the winters when it’s been extra snowfalls and power outages combined with storm after storm, after storm. We’ve certainly seen how difficult it is not for ourselves, as younger seniors, but especially for those who have more health problems or are more frail, can’t get out, don’t drive, whatever. They are really in a very stuck place that can put their life in health at risk.”
The B.C. Chief Coroner’s Report found that 67% of the 619 decedents during the recent heat dome were 70 years old or older. Most lived in homes without adequate cooling systems, such as air conditioners or fans. More than 60% had seen a medical professional within a month of their death.

“I do know of one situation where the person was very, very ill and when there was a request to find a fan, there was no fans left to be bought anywhere and the person did pass away. The heat played a big factor in it at the time. That’s the only one that I, personally, am aware of,” said McDowell.
“As islanders we do what needs to be done when an emergency comes up. We’re already doing some of those things, but in some cases the financial resources to purchase equipment or to be able to coordinate and think ahead, et cetera. It’s all been very add hoc.”
“The exciting part for us is to be able to work together with so many different community groups who are all doing good services, so that we don’t overlap each other. We check in and know that somebody is helping Mary or Fred or whatever and it doesn’t necessarily have to be Quadra Circle. It could be their friends, or their family, or their neighbourhood. It pulls the community together and in a way that maybe makes everybody, volunteers included, feel like they’re making a contribution and giving back to the seniors in the community. Hopefully they know that they’ll be able to get similar help when they need it and can’t manage. I think that’s the motivation for all of us that are working on this.”
Quadra Circle was already looking into the logistics of setting up a cooling or a warming center on Quadra, Cortes, or some of the Outer Discovery Islands. They were studying the heat dome in particular and used this information to apply for the grant.
“Some of the seniors that I’ve spoken to would certainly want to go to a place like the Legion, the community center or the library or wherever there’s cooling, for example, in hot weather. There’s no taxi service that’s consistent on Quadra Island, no bus service. It is the same on Cortes Island. There are issues trying to get around in the stormy weather, or icy roads or, trees down, heavy snowfall, or too hot weather to even what to drive in. All of those things you just conspire to keep people wanting to stay home and stay as safe as they can. Sometimes they don’t realize the impact that especially hot weather is having on them, that can lead to, health risks,” explained McDowell.

“There is a need for education for seniors and their families about the effects of heat and cold weather on seniors. and also to have a very quick response plan already set up that we could just plug in and get help out to seniors quickly rather than transporting them to a warming or cooling centre, which can take an awful lot of more volunteers to operate, especially if a heat wave or power outage lasts a long time.”
“We really didn’t have very good resources or coordination and we wanted to use this grant to help us get ready for the next environmental event as they’re calling it.”
“We’ll be using the money mainly to buy equipment such as air conditioning, cooling fans, neck fans, portable generators if necessary for them to replace electricity outages and battery operated lights. Those kinds of things and to be able to hire contractors who can go in and help with the cleanup after storms or get their the roads cleared so that the home care workers can get in and see the seniors. Practical things that volunteers and paid workers can do to help out during an emergency.”
While $25,000 is not much money, McDowell pointed out that most of the equipment they need is inexpensive. Neck fans, for example, can be purchased for under $25 and do not constrict people’s movements.
“The idea is that we will be buying these, loaning them out during emergencies and then taking them back into storage. We can reuse them and move moved around, et cetera,” she explained.
“I think this is a pilot project that the government is trying to see what different communities will do with a certain amount of money and learn from the results. There’s definitely a research component to this. I think the intent was to have plans in place for emergencies, then report back to the United Way after each event. What did you learn and how you can share that knowledge with similar communities and perhaps eventually have more funding available based on the kind of programs that look to be more practical for rural areas.”

“We definitely wanted to be able to plan a coordinated action because eventually Quadra will have warming and cooling centres. We also wanted to use the money so that at the end of this grant we would have something tangible to help us on Quadra, not just a list of guidelines to follow.”
“Even if we never see another grant along those lines, we will at least have the resources and an action plan already prepared as a result of this. We will have a network of people being able to check in with their neighbours and their friends and see what needs they have. We’ll be a lot more prepared than we have been.”
Top photo credit: A snowy Quadra Island roda – Photo courtesy Quadra Circle
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