P.E.I. government spending $3.6 million to ease heat in 7 long-term care homes 

Next summer should be more comfortable for residents and staff at provincially owned long-term care facilities on Prince Edward Island.

The provincial government has issued tenders for someone to install cooling systems in seven of the Island's nine public long-term care homes. The upgrades will cost about $3.6 million.

Two provincial homes, Stewart Memorial in Tyne Valley and Riverview Manor in Montague, are newer buildings and already have cooling systems in place.

Trevor Waugh, Health P.E.I.'s director of long-term care, says every building has some level of air cooling or air conditioning already in place. 

But he said those systems were no match for the increasingly hot summers being experienced across P.E.I. 

"We know from this previous summer and from other summers — I think this year there were probably three if not four significant heat waves," Waugh said.

"Every home is a little bit different and if you go to some of the older homes, you might see air conditioners in individual rooms but what we want to get to is full facility coverage."  

The facilities getting upgrades are:

• Colville Manor, Souris
• Maplewood Manor, Alberton
• Prince Edward Home, Charlottetown
• Summerset Manor, Summerside
• Beach Grove Home, Charlottetown
• Wedgewood Manor, Summerside
• Margaret Stewart Ellis Home, O'Leary

This summer, the P.E.I. Nurses Union raised concerns about the conditions in which some of its members were working.

Barbara Brookins, president of the nurses union, said at the time that "you can just feel the humidity coming into the building, and other times it's just so warm that everyone is just perspiring the whole day. So that takes a lot of energy, when you're hot and overheated when you're trying to do your work." 

In a statement Thursday, Brookins said she's pleased to hear air conditioning will be added to government-run long-term care homes.

Many of our nurses continue to work in outdated facilities that require urgent improvements to ensure safe and healthy environments.— Barbara Brookins, P.E.I. Nurses' Union

"These infrastructure upgrades are much needed for the health and comfort of residents and staff," she said. 

"However, this is only a first step. Many of our nurses continue to work in outdated facilities that require urgent improvements to ensure safe and healthy environments."

'It could be quite a retrofit'

The work should be completed this winter and the new systems up and running by next summer.

Waugh said it will be up to the successful contractors to determine how to deliver cool, fresh air through the buildings. He said heat pumps, which also provide air conditioning, may be used in some buildings.

"In some of our older homes it could be quite a retrofit. In some of the newer homes it might be less, but the goal is to have really good, efficient cooling facility-wide."