Loss of sister sparks Langley woman’s campaign to prevent future heat wave deaths

Jeanne Hansen’s sister, Tracey McKinlay, was beloved in her New Westminster neighbourhood.

“Everyone knew my sister,” said Hansen, a Langley resident.

When she and Hansen went for a walk, people would come up and greet them, and many would ask about Hansen’s family, since McKinlay had told them all about her sisters and their children.

After cleaning out her apartment last year, Hansen said multiple neighbours told her that if they mentioned it was their birthday, McKinlay would head back to her apartment and return with a small keepsake, usually just a picture frame of her own, so they could have a gift.

McKinlay died in last year’s heat dome event, and Hansen is now trying to raise awareness and ensure that vulnerable people like her sister don’t face the threat of extreme heat without help next time.

McKinlay, 61 when she died last year, had been diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 19. The medications she took for her condition over the decades had damaged her kidneys.

When the extreme heat hit, heat exhaustion caused McKinlay’s kidneys to shut down, and she died in her apartment.

“My sister had no clue, we had no clue,” Hansen said. “I didn’t see that her apartment was like a convection oven.”

Hansen isn’t pointing fingers at governments or health agencies, and she says it isn’t just up to those groups to deal with the problem of extreme heat, either. It’s up to everyone.

The provincial government recently announced a new heat alert system for future heat waves.

READ MORE: B.C. launches heat alert system following 2021’s deadly heat dome

READ ALSO: Heat dome killed 23 people in Langley – coroner

Warnings will go out at relatively safe temperatures and will allow people and local governments time to prepare, while heat emergencies will result in broadcasts through radio, TV, and cellphones.

She’s also pleased to see building code changes that will have long-term impacts.

But no system is perfect, noted Hansen.

Some people can’t afford an air conditioner or even a fan. Her sister didn’t own a cell phone and never watched the news, so could have missed even an emergency alert. And the building code changes won’t help anyone who’s in an older structure.

Even regional cooling centres aren’t perfect – some people can’t easily get out of their homes, because of lack of transportation or disability.

“What I really want to see is the cooling centres in buildings where people live,” Hansen said.

Vulnerable people – the elderly, those with medical conditions, and the poor – need options very close to them. Air conditioning or fans and cold drinks in lobbies or even parking garages would help, Hansen said.

Hansen has been taking practical steps, in her sister’s memory.

She collected 90 fans and gave them to residents at McKinlay’s building this year.

But after receiving the Coroner’s report on her sister’s death, on the same day that the heat wave warning system was announced, she’s also speaking to the media, local governments, anyone who will listen to help build awareness.

She has set up a Facebook group called Tracey’s Legacy to help people share ideas and resources, and anyone who can help can email her at traceyslegacy@gmail.com.

Finger pointing and throwing around blame for the deaths in last year’s heat dome isn’t productive, she believes. The levels of heat were unprecedented, and B.C.’s paramedics had been stretched thin by more than a year of the pandemic.

“There’s no one blame,” she said.

However, now is the time to make preparations and changes.

“We’ve learned about it, now we need to do something about it,” Hansen said.