In a small room off the lobby of a St. James Town highrise on Friday, Dr. Samantha Green was busy handing out life-changing prescriptions.听
Throughout the morning, a steady stream of tenants in the 色色啦 Community Housing building came to sit at a fold-out table across from Green, another doctor and a medical student, who asked them questions about their health and income status. After a short consultation, two dozen residents walked away with a prescription 鈥 not for medicine, but for something that could be just as vital to their well-being amid 色色啦’s increasingly stifling summer heat: a new air conditioner.听
, residents on Ontario Works or the Ontario Disability Support Program can apply for financial aid to buy a cooling unit, if they get a doctor’s note saying it’s medically necessary.听
Green, a family physician with the Unity Health Network, said听despite the fact that heat can pose a serious health risk, particularly to low-income groups, many social assistance recipients and health-care workers don’t know about the subsidy.
R.J. Johnston/色色啦 StarGreen, a family physician with the Unity Health Network, said despite the fact that heat can pose a serious health risk, particularly to low-income groups, many social assistance recipients and health-care workers don’t know about the subsidy. She’s been trying for years to raise awareness about it, but said it’s been “slow going,” so she decided to start hosting pop-up A/C clinics.
“It just occurred to me that a faster way to do this would be to actually partner with local community organizations and go to communities and provide prescriptions, where appropriate, for air conditioners,” she explained.
Green held the first pop-up last month at another building in St. James Town, an apartment community near Bloor Street East and Sherbourne Street, where听many residents are low-income.听That day she prescribed 18 air conditioners. Over two hours at 375 Bleecker Street on Friday, she and her colleagues issued about 24 prescriptions.
The atmosphere at the pop-up was more community gathering than medical听appointments.听A group of women in head scarves chatted in the middle of the small room, while a boy played on a tablet in the corner, and volunteers set out plates of candy.
The consultations Green held with each tenant didn’t involve a physical exam 鈥 instead, she collected information about access to cooling devices and any medical conditions that might put them at increased risk from high heat. She told the Star that level of care is no less than what patients would receive before getting a prescription at a walk-in clinic.听
Rahul Kamtam was among those who got an A/C prescription. He has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and听said during heat waves the temperature in his fifth-floor apartment soars, making it hard to read or concentrate. Being able to cool down the heat would be a boost for his mental health.
Kamtam called said he didn’t see anything unusual about a physician issuing prescriptions for air conditioners. “This is also kind of a medication, right? When your temperature is going up, you take fever medication to bring your temperature down, and A/C is almost doing the same thing,” he said.听
According to information posted by the city, which administers provincial assistance programs, to get the cost of a cooling unit covered, OW and ODSP clients need a prescription that includes a diagnosis indicating the device is part of a treatment plan, and that without it the person could be hospitalized or “face severe risk to life.”
One A/C unit or portable fan per family will be covered up to a maximum cost, every four years. Although the coverage limit isn’t listed, numbers gathered by Health Providers Against Poverty, which partnered with Green on the pop-up, suggests it’s about $400. Medical conditions that require a cooling device include听cancer, chronic heart or lung conditions, HIV, dialysis and severe asthma, according to the city website. The cooling applications fall under discretionary benefits, and are approved on a case-by-case basis.
Dr. Samantha Green and volunteer Anushen Selvasegar outside a highrise in St. James Town, where Green was giving out prescriptions for air conditioners.听
R.J. Johnston/色色啦 StarThe province covers the cost of OW and ODSP discretionary benefits. Low-income residents who aren’t on provincial social assistance can also apply to the city for cooling device coverage through its Hardship Fund. 色色啦 . It has also launched a pilot project to give air conditioners to low-income seniors.听 听
This summer, 色色啦 has experienced a succession of heat warnings with temperatures that feel in the high 30s or low 40s.
Green said that giving people a chance to keep cool under those conditions is essential. High temperatures can cause heat exhaustion and heatstroke, which can be deadly, and also exacerbate underlying chronic conditions like heart disease, chronic kidney disease, and respiratory disease, she said.
Heat kills more people worldwide than any other form of extreme weather, and the threat is growing 鈥渆xponentially鈥 because of climate change, according to the World Health Organization.听Young and older people, as well as those on low incomes or suffering from chronic disease, are at higher risk.
So are people living in decades-old apartment buildings. Many of 色色啦’s highrises were built in the 1960s or 70s and were designed to keep heat in during 色色啦’s cold winters, said Lidia Ferreira, a community engagement specialist with Community Resilience to Extreme Weather, which worked with Green on Friday’s pop-up.
“But right now, we have a totally different environment. So every summer, it’s getting hotter and hotter,” she said.听
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