Residents advised to take precautions as smoke fills Saskatchewan's skies
Lung Saskatchewan president Erin Kuan says the best thing one can do to protect themselves is to stay indoors to avoid the smoke. Some signs that your body is not doing well in the smoke is headaches, watery eyes, scratchy throat and generally feeling unwell.
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If those symptoms occur, Kuan says to head indoors, whether that be a mall, library or any area with air conditioning. When going inside is not an option, Kuan recommends wearing a 95-style mask.
The Central Urban Metis Federation (CUMFI) by St. Paul's Hospital in Saskatoon is handing out masks to the homeless who are forced to stay outdoors. CUMFI is also accepting donations for evacuees in Saskatoon.
They will be collecting items such as personal hygiene products, water, diapers, bathing suits, toys and clean summer clothing. CUMFI will then deliver the items to evacuees around the city.
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Watch the video above to find out more about how the smoke is affecting Saskatoon.
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Alberta hospice grants patients one last wish: ‘Brings them joy and meaning'
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Story continues below advertisement The program has brought life into the hospice home and staff say morale has improved exponentially since it started. View image in full screen Covenant Care foyer Lacombe hosts a country music concert for one resident. Supplied: Covenant Care Foyer Lacombe 'It motivates us, it elevates us and it makes us have a sense of self,' said Bee Schnepf, a health-care aide at Foyer Lacombe. Schnepf has become one of the program's biggest champions. 'When we did that first baptism, everything changed for me,' Schnepf said. 'It makes them feel a little bit more alive because when they come here, it's like this isn't the final straw for them.' Some of the wishes take more effort, like a helicopter ride or a country music concert. Others are more simple: animal visits, a liver and onion meal, or ear piercings. Story continues below advertisement The wishes requested at the 10-room hospice are as unique as each individual patient. 'The one thing that I love is learning about (the patients),' health-care aide Angelica Duncan said. 'There's so many different walks of life, so many different stories, and upbringings.' Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "There's so many different walks of life, so many different stories, and upbringings." View image in full screen One resident's last wish involved a drive in a Model T Ford and an orange milkshake. Supplied: Covenant Care Foyer Lacombe Every single one of the wishes involves the community in one way or another. Get weekly health news Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday. Sign up for weekly health newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy When a patient decides, a call goes out on social media — Coulombe said the response has been overwhelming. 'It takes a village when kids are coming into the world, and I think as people are leaving the world it takes that village again.' Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It takes a village when kids are coming into the world, and I think as people are leaving the world it takes that village again." Coulombe said it also takes away the mystery that often surrounds palliative care facilities. Story continues below advertisement 'The last wish involves the community, where they get to realize that hospice — it is yes about dying, but it's also about living,' he said. 1:42 St. Albert hospice centre's Last Wish program fulfills final motorcycle ride For John Wintersgill, a patient with terminal Stage 4 cancer, the program is a cherry on top of the care he's received at Foyer Lacombe. 'The staff here are just angels, every one of them,' Wintersgill said. 'You can't get closer to heaven than we are and still be below the clouds.' 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Global News
9 hours ago
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From tree cover to green roofs, how are cities fighting extreme heat?
As a heat wave grips parts of Ontario amid a scorching summer, some Canadian cities have been trying new techniques to try to tackle extreme heat, which can quickly turn deadly. A Statistics Canada study last year showed there were roughly 670 deaths between 2000 and 2020 attributable to extreme heat events in 12 Canadian cities. In 2021, a heat dome in British Columbia killed an estimated 619 people in one week. And this week, temperatures in parts of Ontario are set to feel like the mid-40s C — and cities can feel the heat keenly due to how they're built, experts say. 'The surfaces in the cities are such that they absorb more heat and that causes the entire environment to become hotter and the temperature rises as well,' said Sandeep Agrawal, a professor at the University of Alberta's School of Urban and Regional Planning. Story continues below advertisement It's due to the 'urban heat island effect,' which can make a city one to three degrees hotter than the surrounding area during the day and warmer at night, according to decades of urban studies. Among the reasons are glassy or concrete skyscrapers that absorb a lot of heat during the day and take longer to cool down at night. James Voogt, a Western University professor of geography and environment, said heat is a top 'weather hazard.' 'Our ability to physiologically respond to those is relatively slow,' he said. From increasing tree cover to installing 'green' roofs, here's how some Canadian cities have been trying new techniques to try to tackle extreme heat. What's been done to cool cities down so far? A study by the European Commission in 2023 found that increasing tree coverage to 30 per cent in European cities could lower temperatures by an average 0.4 C, with a maximum effect of 5.9 C in some areas, avoiding 2,644 premature deaths. Story continues below advertisement Planting more trees is one approach some Canadian cities are using. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Toronto plans to increase the number of trees covering streets to 40 per cent canopy cover by 2050 by planting about 120,000 trees a year. 'So you want to make use of strategic planting of trees to try to take advantage of the fact that a tree cools by shading a surface and a tree cools by evapo-transpiring water,' Voogt said. 'So if you strategically locate your tree well, you can get maximum benefit.' 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Story continues below advertisement Still more to do, experts say While some cities have taken steps, Agrawal said 'better design' is needed. 'So incorporating more vegetation, vegetation cover and tree canopies, (and) permeable material within the built environment I think would lead to a more sort of sustainable and cooler environment than the current way of doing it, where it's sort of a patchwork of things being done,' Agrawal said. Barron noted changes like using lighter material for roads to lower heat absorption and adding water where you can, such as water fountains, can make a difference. 1:59 'Extremes you never want to be at': As temperatures spike, so do health hazards Using misting systems can also help with cooling, which she said has been used in places like Australia. The systems are set up to spray a mist of water around an area, or to let people walk through them to cool down. Story continues below advertisement Voogt said city planning can also improve how it handles heat, though he said that is a longer-term solution. 'So changing the form of the city, the way it's laid out, how the buildings are spaced, that's longer term, right, because you don't change the buildings that often,' he said. 'What we have to do is start thinking about cities that are a little bit more optimized in terms of the climate they're embedded in.'
Global News
a day ago
- Global News
‘Predator': Crown seeks 12 years for B.C. spa operator convicted of sex assault
WARNING: This story contains disturbing content and graphic testimony and is not suitable for all readers A former Burnaby spa employee who said he provided what were described as 'vaginal tightening treatments' should spend a dozen years in prison, prosecutors argued on Wednesday. A jury convicted Farshad Khojsteh-Kashani of seven counts of sexual assault involving seven different victims in April. He was initially charged in 2022, after two women who received 'high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) vaginal tightening services' at Fab Skin Care in Burnaby went to police. Fraser Health subsequently advised anyone who had received the same procedure to be screened for sexually transmitted infections, because they were not provided by a registered health professional, and werent' done with appropriate infection control measures. On Wednesday, the court heard impact statements from all seven victims, four of whom read them personally. Story continues below advertisement 'I trusted Farshad…but instead he betrayed by trust in the worst, violating way possible … He hurt me physically and psychologically,' one woman told the court 'I will never forget how vulnerable and violated I felt that day,' another said through tears. 'Just driving past the location in Burnaby sends chills through my spine.' Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Other victims described struggling to get their health back to this day, and how the assault was 'humiliating, degrading and terrifying.' 1:20 Burnaby skincare clinic worker charged with sexual assaults The 53-year-old, who described himself on his website as 'Dr. Farshad,' is not a doctor, but a spa operator working in a 'largely unregulated' industry, Crown prosecutor Jacinta Lawson said. 'The lack of regulation resulted in a perfect environment for a sexual predator like Mr. Khojsteh-Kashani to operate,' she told the court. Story continues below advertisement Many of the victims had come to him seeking other treatments when he introduced them to the invasive vaginal procedure, which is performed with an 18-centimetre wand, she said. The harm caused was exacerbated by the degree of trust his victims put in him, Lawton told the court. She told the court there were actually nine assaults in total, with two of the victims assaulted twice. 'Mr. Khojsteh-Kashani made a conscious decision nine times to exploit these women's trust in him,' she told the court, adding that he did not stop when some of the women asked him to. Khojsteh-Kashani objectified women and 'treated the women as objects to use for his sexual pleasure,' she said. At trial, Khojsteh-Kashani denied assaulting any of the victims or that he performed the procedure in a sexual manner, and told the court he was always concerned with their comfort. The trial heard how Khojsteh-Kashani had rubbed victims' clitorises and penetrated them with his fingers. The court heard he asked one victim if using the wand had 'turned her on' and asked another if she wanted him to 'finish her off.' One victim said she felt like she had just had sex after the procedure, while another said it 'felt like he was using it like a sex toy.' Story continues below advertisement The Crown is seeking a sentence of 12 years and three months. Khojsteh-Kashani's defence is seeking a conditional sentence order followed by probation, and is expected to make its arguments on Thursday. Khojsteh-Kashani is also expected to address the court.
