SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
People who are worried about the long-term health effects of breathing in forest fire smoke and the health costs associated with it may soon get some answers to their questions.

Craig Scott of Ecology North will manage a project to study forest fire smoke and its health effects and cost to the health-care system in the NWT. Health Canada gave the organization $130,000 to conduct a study intended to do just that. - John McFadden/NNSL photo

Ecology North has received $130,000 from Health Canada to study the impacts to the health-care system associated with forest fire smoke.

"We're partnering with a couple of local doctors, Dr. Katie Kohle and Dr. Courtney Howard who are going to be working with Stanton health records and records from Yellowknife Health and Social Services," said Craig Scott, project manager with Ecology North. "They're going to be looking at emergency room visits, pharmacy records and health records - basically three years worth of data - and try to determine if there are any statistical blips there due to forest fire smoke."

Patient confidentiality won't be at risk and no personal health information will be released publicly, Scott said.

"We're doing this to try to raise awareness that climate change is impacting people's health and we want to show people and the government that this is something we should be taking seriously and we should be putting money into."

Ecology North isn't going to be looking into the specifics of what smoke does to people's health, said Scott, rather the plan is to examine how it affects the health system and its bottom line.

"There will be some information in terms of the increase with asthma and the number of puffers people have to use and certain prescriptions that have increased due to respiratory illness," Scott said. "But we're not going to get into an analysis of individual people.

Results from the study are expected by winter, Scott said.

"It's a long, labourious process to go through all these records and it's not going to be an easy job."

It was last summer amid the heavy smoke and a record-breaking wildfire season that the late Doug Ritchie took notice and called a few people together and said the organization should look at this and draw awareness to the fact that forest fires are climate change-related and have an effect on health, said Scott. The organization put the proposal to Health Canada and they obviously agreed that it was a good idea, Scott said.

Another element of the project is being headed up by Dr. Patrick Scott and will involve video testimonies from people who have been affected by forest fire smoke.

"He's going to be directing some short videos of people from Yellowknife, YKDFN (Yellowknives Dene First Nation) and Kakisa and people will be talking about how forest fire smoke impacted them health-wise or activity-wise, economically or their kids," said the Ecology North project manager. "The report won't just be about numbers, it will be about people as well and the fact that climate change is affecting us now."

Last summer, Dr. Andre Corriveau, the NWT's chief public health officer, said he believed the smoke sent more people to clinics and emergency rooms and that inhaler sales were up at pharmacies. It is not yet clear if that is the case this summer. But Corriveau is advising people that having an air purifier in their home with a HEPA filter will really help.

"It makes quite a significant difference in the quality of life and prevention of health problems for people who are predisposed to asthma or who have a chronic health condition like COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) or chronic bronchitis," Corriveau said. "A good air purifier with a HEPA filter can eliminate up to 85 per cent of the fine particles that cause those problems."

Residents can dedicate a room to close off for respite and those at risk might consider spending the better part of the day there, the doctor said.

"I know people in Yellowknife with asthma that told me last summer that it made a huge difference in terms of having to end up in emergency," said Corriveau.

Environment Canada's air quality health index indicated a low health risk at press time. It did indicate a high health risk earlier this month.

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