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CBC
13 minutes ago
- CBC
Leaving the pond with a new rash? It might be swimmer's itch
If you take a dip in a Newfoundland and Labrador pond this summer, you might take home a bumpy red souvenir. St. John's dermatologist Wayne Gulliver says swimmer's itch is common in the province's swimming destinations, but isn't a cause for great concern. The itch is the skin's reaction to tiny larvae or worms that live in snails in and around bodies of water. They typically infect ducks and other birds, but often wiggle their way into the skin on the arms and legs of innocent human swimmers. "The inflammatory reaction can be quite extensive and very uncomfortable," Gulliver said, but "the larvae die and eventually the patient gets better." People with a history of eczema and allergies tend to have a more prolonged and severe reaction, according to the dermatologist. Swimmer's itch is self-limited, said Gulliver, which means it will typically go away without treatment. It's also restricted to areas exposed to those microscopic creatures. Fixing the itch Gulliver says swimmer's itch isn't tracked, and the best way to avoid it is by avoiding ponds that have infected other people. "It's all by local knowledge and word of mouth," he said. The rash comes in the form of red lesions and of course, an itch. It typically lasts for two to three days. Gulliver recommends seeing a medical professional if it lasts longer or presents more seriously. When swimmer's itch was reported in the freshwater pond at Topsail Beach last summer, the town of Conception Bay South advised people to avoid swimming on bright mornings with onshore wind, keep moving while in the water and avoid staying in shallow water. The best way to deal with the discomfort is by using some antihistamines, moisturizers, and sometimes hydrocortisone, said Gulliver. "The lesson is: don't go swimming in that pond again," he said.
CBC
13 minutes ago
- CBC
St. John's morgue octuples its storage capacity with new facility
New Ron Johnson doesn't believe unclaimed bodies will be problem again Newfoundland and Labrador has vastly increased the number of bodies it can store in a new morgue facility in St. John's, say health authority officials. Daniel Parsons, senior director of provincial capital planning and engineering with Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services, said this new facility consists of two fridge units and two freezer units, which is located off a hallway in the parking garage of the Janeway Children's Hospital. He said the original morgue facility was constructed in the 1970s and had a capacity of 12 bodies. The new facility can store 96 bodies. "What we've done here is significantly increased our capacity," he told reporters on Friday during a tour of the facility. Ron Johnson, chief operating officer of the health authority's eastern-urban zone, said having this expanded facility is a boon, including for those who work there, but it's also a matter of "perception." "We wanted to ensure that … people's bodies and families and others were dealt with in a very professional way. In a very caring way and empathetic way," said Johnson. "So I think this new facility does that." Johnson said the new facility came online in early June. Corey Murray, senior director of pathology and laboratory medicine, said the new space is ergonomically designed and is safer for staff. "The older space again was very confined. We had a very limited capacity. So it was difficult at times to be retrieving a decedent, either for the funeral home or for autopsy services," said Murray. Unclaimed bodies won't 'pile up' CBC News first reported 28 bodies were being stored in freezer units outside of the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's due to a lack of space in the morgue in March 2024. The morgue doubles as the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The freezers were later relocated to the hospital parking garage — where the new, expanded morgue has been constructed. The provincial government amended legislation, which was filed on Dec. 24 and came into effect on Jan. 1, that empowered the health authority to bury unclaimed remains after two weeks of searching for next of kin and then five days after the identity of the person is posted online on a dedicated website. Between legislation and the expanded facility, Johnson said he doesn't anticipate they will have to tackle a growing number of unclaimed remains again. However, he said there may be other reasons they would need more storage, like a "mass event" that causes numerous deaths.
CBC
43 minutes ago
- CBC
Chimney swifts' housing crisis creates hurdle for affordable housing providers
The chimney swift is a disappearing bird that originally nested in hollow old-growth trees. After those forests were logged, it found a creative solution — it moved into chimneys in human cities. But now it faces a new housing crisis. Thanks to modern heating technology and regulations, many chimneys are being capped, demolished or modified with a metal liner that makes them unsuitable for swifts. And now, efforts to protect the bird are bumping up against efforts to ease the housing crisis for people. Municipal councillors in Leamington, Ont., as well as Toronto-based affordable housing provider WoodGreen, have run into this paradox over the past year — and in both cases learned that preserving swift habitat can lead to higher costs for housing providers. In Leamington, about 55 kilometres southeast of Windsor, Ont., council wanted to demolish a school and use the land for " attainable and affordable housing." But because the school had a chimney where swifts were nesting, it required the approval earlier this month of a $640,000 plan to build a new home for the birds. As Mayor Hilda MacDonald told CTV News, "You could build a pretty nice home" for the cost of the swift habitat. "You could house some people who are facing housing precariousness with an expenditure like that," she said. "And here we are building a place for birds?" But conservation advocates say creative solutions have benefits for both the birds and their human neighbours. Neighbours under threat If you live in an urban area from Manitoba east to Nova Scotia, there's a good chance you've heard chimney swifts as they flit high overhead in the evening while hunting insects, says Allison Manthorne, aerial insectivore conservation strategist for the non-profit group Birds Canada. "They make this really unique kind of 'chittering' sound," she said, noting that most people don't know what species they're hearing. "So although they're ubiquitous across the landscape in Eastern Canada, they're just really not well known." They spend most of their lives high above us, beaks open, gulping insects that make up "aerial plankton." Manthorne likens them to baleen whales in the sea. Chimney swift populations have fallen 90 per cent since the 1970s. They're listed as threatened with extinction both federally and provincially across their Canadian range. Manthorne, who is based in Sackville, N.B., said that's mainly due to a decline of the insects they eat and the loss of their own habitats for nesting and roosting — typically, chimneys. What it means for chimney owners The birds are protected under both species-at-risk laws and the Migratory Birds Convention Act. If swifts are found nesting in a chimney, the building owner needs a federal or provincial permit to alter it. To get the permit, they might need to maintain the chimney, build a new one "or find equivalent habitat elsewhere," nearby, Manthorne said. Both Leamington council and WoodGreen needed to find alternative swift housing that was located within two kilometres and was at least as tall as the original nesting sites. WoodGreen's property was a century-old church with three chimneys in Toronto's east end. When the congregation had trouble affording upkeep, they worked with WoodGreen to find a solution. They decided to demolish and redevelop about two-thirds of the building into 50 units of affordable housing for seniors, while retaining the facade and some space for the congregation, said Darlene Cook, WoodGreen's director of growth and development partnerships. At a community meeting about the plan, a resident informed them that swifts were nesting in the church's chimneys. An investigation by consultant Beacon Environmental found a total of seven birds in the chimneys — two nesting pairs and some "helpers." Coincidentally, Geoff Cape, the CEO of WoodGreen's builder, The Assembly, was also the founder and CEO of Evergreen, a non-profit that runs a community and park space called Evergreen Brickworks. It is located at a nearby former quarry and brick factory, which once had four tall brick chimneys, each bearing one of the words in "Don Valley Brick Works." One, bearing the word "Valley," remains. It stands 26 metres high in the middle of a children's garden featuring edible plants like corn and squash, a brick pizza oven, a water cistern and a pump. Cape proposed the chimney as a possible replacement for the soon-to-be-demolished church chimneys, Cook recalled. Lois Lindsay, chief program officer at Evergreen, said the chimney had been deteriorating for decades and was capped in 2008 to protect it from further damage. Evergreen knew the chimney was a potential swift habitat and wanted to restore and uncap it but "we really didn't have the money." Luckily, given its obligations, WoodGreen paid for the full chimney restoration. It could not provide an estimate of the specific cost, but said the money came out of its $19.8 million budget for the affordable housing project, funded by the City of Toronto through the federal Rapid Housing Initiative. Benefits for birds… and people Evergreen's chimney was uncapped this spring and has been monitored by Beacon Environmental. Beacon's CEO and senior ecologist Brian Henshaw said a number of chimney swifts have already been spotted circling above the chimney and diving down as though about to go in. That's a "good sign," he said, since the birds usually "check out" a nesting site for a year or two to ensure it's stable and predator-free before nesting in it. He added that the Evergreen Brickworks chimney has the potential to do more than the two short chimneys it replaced. While short chimneys are suitable for nesting, the taller chimney has the potential to be a "roosting site" where dozens or hundreds of birds can rest. Swifts must roost in chimneys because their foot anatomy makes it impossible for them to perch in trees. WATCH | Hundreds of swifts will funnel into a single chimney to roost overnight:[ MEDIA] Evergreen Brickworks has already put up interpretive panels about the swifts at its children's garden. "We are super excited to incorporate chimney swift education and programming ... and can't wait to welcome the swifts back," Lindsay said. As for WoodGreen, its partial demolition of the church is complete and it hopes to finish construction of its 50 apartments in the spring of 2026. Meanwhile, despite some grumbling, Leamington's council approved a plan to build three free-standing artificial chimneys to replace the school chimney — one 15 metres high like the original chimney, one four metres high, and one 5.5 metres high. They'll be clustered along a trail with some benches, greenery and signs about the swifts. "It could lead to some education, give the community someplace to visit," Robert Sharon, Leamington's director of infrastructure services, told council. He added that if swifts end up using the smaller chimneys, that could loosen future requirements and make accommodating swifts easier and less expensive. Manthorne said the challenges faced by Leamington and WoodGreen aren't unique. Up until recently, there was a successful federal chimney swift restoration fund, which helped with the cost of building and restoring structures such as chimneys — costs that typically range from $5,000 to $130,000. Although there is a waitlist for funding, Environment and Climate Change Canada had not yet decided as of this week whether to renew it. Manthorpe said some situations can look like a conflict between housing birds and housing people, but noted that both housing and biodiversity crises exist. She added that people benefit from protecting biodiversity — including swifts, which share our cities and eat a lot of insects. "So they're providing pest management. They're really a joy for a lot of people," she added. "I think it's really important, especially now, to really consider how we can coexist with nature and how we can solve these problems collaboratively instead of [it] just being an us-versus-them problem."
