TDRC Media Releases

Media advisory                                                                                                                              July 4, 2005
 

TDRC calls for action as boarding
house tenant dies in killer heat

Noted medical epidemiologist Dr. Stephen Hwang to join with TDRC
at press conference: Tuesday 5; 12 noon; Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre (PARC); 1495 Queen Street W (west of Lansdowne)

Toronto's killer heat has taken the life of Richard Howell, a psychiatric survivor living in a boarding house.  The Coroner's office described Mr. Howell's death, as well as the death of two other people during the past two weeks, as "heat related."  Mr. Howell died in his room on the third floor of a west end boarding home.  Reports indicate that his window could not be opened more than four inches.  Fire doors on the floor were shut.

Mr. Howell, like many people in boarding homes and other marginal settings, struggled with health issues.  The level of risk they face during excessive heat can escalate because of poor health or because of psychiatric drugs (especially neuroleptics and antidepressants) that increase the risk of heat stroke, heat-related illness, and death.  In early June, Toronto's Medical Officer of Health released a study reporting an average of 120 premature deaths annually that are heat-related.  Many of those being left to die are those who are living in poverty and without adequate housing.

"Richard Howell was vulnerable because he was poor, a psychiatric survivor labeled 'schizophrenic', and prescribed dangerous psychiatric drugs," says Don Weitz, an anti-psychiatry and anti-poverty activist.  "He should be alive today, as should others who died struggling to survive the heat in substandard housing, shelters or on the street.  Howell's death is a terrible tragedy, a violation of human rights."  Mr. Howell's death is the most recent example of Toronto's inadequate protocol on heat alerts.    This protocol exists mainly in theory - death indicates an obvious problem in practice.

TDRC will be joined by noted medical epidemiologist Dr. Stephen Hwang and others at a press conference on Tuesday as it calls for action to prevent additional deaths, including:

• Province of Ontario should immediately convene a Coroner's Inquest to review the physical standards and operating requirements of the mental health boarding home system, including the use of psychiatric drugs and other medication and provision of air conditioning.

• Toronto Public Health should launch a city-wide educational campaign to inform psychiatric survivors, people with disabilities and the elderly of the serious health risks of psychiatric drugs and other medications.  This campaign should include tenants in rooming houses and boarding homes, residents of group homes, nursing homes, homes for the aged, supportive housing and those in long-term care facilities, psychiatric hospitals, clinics, as well as community agencies, such as shelters and drop-ins.

• City of Toronto should work quickly to improve safety conditions, including:
  -  Legislate a maximum temperature in the city's Municipal Code as a parallel provision to the current requirement that landlords provide minimum temperature from September 15 to June 1;
  -  Assist those most at risk during heat alerts by developing a community-specific response that considers the conditions and needs of people.  This must provide for geographically-accessible cooling centres, including a west-end locations, with transportation to assist those in need.

• Community health providers / agencies / shelters and housing providers serving psychiatric survivors must develop and implement a protocol to inform clients / tenants / users of psychiatric drugs of the risks during hot weather conditions and safety precautions to be taken.

For more information, contact TDRC at tdrc@tdrc.net

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