HEAL 2600 WEEK 8 Physical environment
Physical environment:
The physical environment, i.e. the place where someone is born and raised can have drastic implications on what an individual can be exposed to and how they live their life. At certain levels of exposure, contaminants in out air, water, food and soil can cause a variety of adverse health effects, including cancer, birth defects, respiratory illness and gastrointestinal ailments
Natural disasters:
Natural disasters are weather/climate driven disasters that are the natural part of their respective environments. These can and do cause serious harm to both natural and human environments. The natural disasters covered are the ones that can affect the people of Manitoba and is not a comprehensive list of natural disasters
Flooding - Major flooding is a semi-regular occurrence in Manitoba due to the province being home to a great lake and multiple rivers
Flood of 2011 lead to the evacuation of 18 First nation communities
Flood of 2022 lead to the evacuation of 2000 people of the Peguis First nation, temporarily resided in Winnipeg hotels
Personal stress - any natural disaster causes some degree of personal stress, most of it is attributed to the lack of predictability that comes with the disaster. In survival situations the best and worst of people can come out and can range from looting/theft to cooperation.
Stressors, panic, anxiety, and fear - Hysteria is a common occurrence when a population is notified of an oncoming natural disaster. Acts such as panic buying, and looting often occur because of this.
Anger and disbelief
Generosity, cooperation, and teamwork - in other situations, cooperation and teamwork arise when communities come together to collaborate, moving towards a common goal
helplessness and despair
sleeplessness and lack of concentration
How to stay calm in situations.4
Know yourself
Be aware of how you usually deal with stress (anger and withdrawal). Keep in mind potential resources (Who you to turn to) - family, friends, religion, and acknowledging these things.
Care for your body and mind
its important to relax during stressful situations, take regular breaks and relax, find the silver lining and interact with others
Check in with Yourself
Remember who you are, maintain a healthy body, mind, and spirit
Stay informed
Keep up with the news, try to avoid “DOOM” scrolling (news in moderation)
Ask for help
Friends, family, and resources around the community
Outside support and resources
Health links (24hr phone line), farm and rural support services line, Klinic - Manitoba based clinic that offers mental health support with little expense, patroned towards lower income individuals and families
Manitoba Suicide line
Post-flood - UofM handbook
recognizing mold, possible health effects, people at greatest risk, cleaning up the mold, clean-up precautions, when boiling is necessary, risk factors for well water (targeted towards rural areas)
Wildfires - April to October in Manitoba are the peak seasons for wildfires
across Canada 1.9 million hectares of land is destroyed by wildfires, occurs most often in the Canadian west
can be naturally started by lightning but is usually caused by human carelessness
they threaten communities
destroy vast amounts of timber (this hurts the economy)
helps to maintain the health and diversity of the forest (destroy larger plants making way for small new growth
Controlled Burns - purposeful forest fires meant to burn sections to replicate natural wildfire process that renew and maintain healthy ecosystems
What to do if a wildfire approaches?
call for help, dress properly (reduce burn injuries - cotton or wool clothes are to be avoided), equip yourself with firefighting tools
What to bring if your being evacuated?
clothing, food, money (cash or credit, Not debit), toys for children, reading material, games, pet food, bedding, medication
Home protection - a set of actions to prevent fire damage to your home if it falls within a wildfire exclusion radius
Outside the house:
cover the windows in fire resistant material (12cm plywood)
accessible hose, lawn sprinkler, and pool
fill garbage cans with water for firefighters
turn off propane or natural gas
Inside the house:
close windows and doors to prevent oxygen from entering
remove combustible items (hairspray, solvents, oil-based paints)
Fill bathtubs
Wildfire Do’s and Don'ts:
Do: report fires or smoke
Do: extinguish fire pits and burn barrels
Do: extinguish cigarettes
Beg Bugs (Cimex lectularius) - A parasitic bug species that thrive in human built environments similar to rats and mice.
individuals can have an allergic reaction to the saliva of bed bugs
can anywhere poor or rich
Behaviour:
most active the night before dawn
can survive up to 7 months without food
attracted to warmth and CO2
Saliva is consistent of an anticoagulant and anesthetic
Not know to pass zoonotic disease
psychological implications - fear
Biology:
lay up to 500 eggs at a time
size can be up to that of an apple seed
Symptoms of infestation:
intermediate feeders that constantly move throughout the body
red, itchy bites (red spots)
allergic reactions causing anaphylaxis and other symptoms
sweet musty odor
Detection:
Bed Bug hiding spots
dogs are able to detect bed bugs through sense of smell
Pop culture:
bed bugs are closely associated with poverty, similar to the stigma of head lice
Bed bug prevention:
the Bedbug registry - an online public information website that tracks reports of bed bug activity throughout the US and Canada
“Bird dance” - Vigorous Dance that shakes off bed bugs
Tornado - A violent column of clouds caused by a drastic difference in air temperature causing an enormous updraft that spirals as it ascends
Fujita Scale - developed by a Japanese American named Ted Fujita, the Fujita scale is a rating system that describes the severity of a tornado based on its size and wind speed.
in 2007 this was updated to the modern enhanced Fujita scale to take into account new methods of examination
In Canada, Saskatchewan has the highest number of tornados in the country