Families urged to heed heat warnings this weekend after North Van 'Nana' dies in 'heat dome'

As another heat wave is expected to scorch the South Coast this week, a Lower Mainland woman is warning people to take the warnings seriously. Kelly Gaba is urging everyone to check on vulnerable family members so they don’t suffer the same heartbreaking loss as she did.

Gaba’s 90-year-old grandmother Annie Brown died of heat-related illness in her North Vancouver apartment during the end of June “heat dome.”

While Gaba – who lives in Surrey – visited her Nana twice a week, dropping off meals and taking her on outings, she said she had no idea how hot it would get in her grandmother’s south-facing walk-up apartment. She also didn’t understand how heat exhaustion can creep up and overtax vital organs, especially in the elderly.

Nana was spry, independent 90 year-old

Prior to the sudden heat spike, Brown was a spry senior, who lived independently in the same apartment at Lonsdale and 20th for the past 25 years.

She was known in the neighbourhood for stopping to chat with people she encountered sitting on a bench or standing in line at the bakery.

When arthritis made it impossible for her to leave her apartment without help, Brown would often sit on the balcony and wave to her neighbours.

Home support visited and a neighbour would check on her once a day.

Gaba said when she heard at the end of June that some of the hottest days of the summer were coming, she wasn’t alarmed.

She talked to Brown on the phone on Sunday and again on Monday afternoon.

“I never thought to ask her how hot it was in the apartment,” said Gaba.

'I didn't know she was at risk'

Gaba said she also didn’t know that “heat exhaustion can tire your heart out when you’re old. I didn’t know she was at risk. She didn’t know she was at risk.”

But she was. Brown died overnight between Monday when she talked to Gaba and Tuesday when Brown’s neighbour found her.

She was still in her nightgown, with her medication scattered nearby.

She must have got up for a drink of water or to take a pill when her heart gave out, said Gaba. “She fell over dead from a heart attack right there.”

Gaba raced to North Vancouver when she got the call, where she waited for about two hours for the coroner to release her grandma’s body, then until 2:30 p.m. the next afternoon for the funeral home to arrive. “They were very, very backed up,” she said.

Since then, she’s been plagued by the “could haves.”

Education needed on heat exhaustion

“It’s a huge education piece,” she said. “I had no idea what the risk was of that kind of temperature.”

She adds had she known the risks, renting a hotel room or bringing her grandmother back to her own home in Surrey would likely have been her only options.

No air conditioners were available during the heat wave. And while cooling centres are a fine idea, “How are people who are the most vulnerable supposed to access that?” she asked. “If you’re able to access that, you’re already a foot ahead.”

According to the coroners service, there were 569 people in B.C. who died of heat-related illness between the end of June and end of July, three times the usual number. Most were seniors living alone.

Environment Canada has issued a heat warning for Thursday through Sunday this week. Daytime highs are expected to reach between 29°C and 35°C, while nighttime lows are expected to remain between 16 and 19 degrees.