The Montreal and Montérégie public health authorities challenge urgentologists in order to be informed of any death in connection with the extreme heat that has been raging since Sunday.
In Montreal, the Regional Directorate of Public Health asked that it is reported to it any death that occurs in the hospital within 24 hours of the patient’s arrival and for which heat is a factor. It will also list all the heat strokes of the metropolis.
A call for similar vigilance has been made in Montérégie.
With the mercury, which still exceeded 33 ° C for a third day on Tuesday, public health believes that extreme heat criteria are reached for the second time this summer. The same alert had been launched during the leave of Saint-Jean-Baptiste.
“We see more visits to emergencies for heat-related complications,” explains the vice-president of the Quebec Emergency Medicine Association, the Dr Guillaume Lacombe, during episodes of heat wave.
Enrique Perez working in the heat in a site on Rachel Est on Monday.
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
He recalls that elders and very young children are more at risk, as are those who suffer from chronic diseases.
Especially since various drugs can accentuate fatigue or dehydration, he continues.
Beyond heat strokes, the consequences of extreme heat can be wider, depending on the Dr Lacombe, urgentologist in Joliette. For example, a dehydrated elder becomes more at risk of falls and complications linked to these, such as a broken hip.
15 deaths last year
In the date of Monday, no case had yet been reported in Montreal, but it often takes several months before establishing a specific portrait.
During the heat wave from June 18 to 21, 2024 in Montreal, for which public health has just published its epidemiological survey, a person died with a heat stroke and the death of fourteen others had a probable link with heat.
The majority of deceased people had preexisting chronic diseases, such as hypertension or diabetes, and they were all over 50 years of age.