Some residents of Lakeside Gardens near Long Lake are resting comfortably at the nearby Oliver Woods Community Centre. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

evacuated

Extreme heat forces seniors from Nanaimo care home

Jun 29, 2021 | 2:46 PM

NANAIMO — Roughly 30 residents of a seniors home were forced to temporarily evacuate due to the punishing heat wave.

They were moved into the air conditioned Oliver Woods Community Centre after Lakeside Gardens staff reached out to the City for help on Tuesday, June 29.

Andrew Trinder, operations manager of the independent living facility, said residents are either being put in hotels for the night or being taken in by local family members.

“We’ll assess the situation tomorrow. Hopefully we can start to see the building cool with the dropping temperatures and then strategies to get the heat out of the building.”

Though the common areas of Lakeside Gardens have air conditioning, air conditioning inside the suites is dependent on the residents.

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Residents who did install air conditioning units in their suites remain at Lakeside Gardens.

Trinder said staff constantly checked on residents during the height of the heat wave, delivering water, freezies and cold towels.

He said Lakeside Gardens’ cooling system will be reviewed.

Karen Lindsay, the City’s emergency program manager, said they gladly stepped up to help when contacted by Lakeside Gardens staff.

“We have our emergency social services volunteers here serving to meet and greet, giving them water and helping them through the day. Our parks rec and culture department staff organized and coordinated the facility to make sure everybody was comfortable.”

Temperatures are expected to ease in coming days but still remain above average for the end of June.

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ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes