New fresh-air devices reduce disease in Nunavut

Ventilation equipment helps kids in cramped houses avoid viruses

By JANE GEORGE

A study of the impact of better ventilation in four Baffin Island communities shows good that ventilation produces healthier children, says Dr. Tom Kovesi, a pediatric lung specialist from the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)


A study of the impact of better ventilation in four Baffin Island communities shows good that ventilation produces healthier children, says Dr. Tom Kovesi, a pediatric lung specialist from the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

It’s getting to into that time of year when in most Nunavut communities you can open your windows on nice days and let fresh air into your house for a while.

That’s a good thing, because most viruses that cause children to get sick with coughs, colds and other infections thrive in the stuffy conditions often found inside Nunavut homes during the long winters, Dr. Tom Kovesi, a pediatric lung specialist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, finds in a recent study.

Infants — especially from the Baffin region — suffer sky-high rates of hospitalization for respiratory infections, which are connected to living in overcrowded dwellings with poor ventilation, Kovesi said.

To see if better ventilation could improve the situation, Kovesi worked with the Nunavut Housing Corp., Natural Resources Canada, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and Health Canada, to install home ventilators in four communities: Clyde River, Igloolik, Pangnirtung, and Pond Inlet.

Kovesi’s team installed the devices, called heat recovery ventilators, or HRVs, in 68 housing units.

These devices, when connected to a furnace, exhaust continuously from bathrooms, kitchen, and basement and supply air to bedrooms and living areas.

“The idea is to increase the amount of fresh air into your house,” said Kovesi in a recent interview.

By bringing in fresh air, HRVs reduce indoor high carbon dioxide levels — mainly caused smoking inside — to within recommended concentrations.

After a search for HRVs capable of performing in extreme cold, the social housing units were retrofitted with HRV units made by Venmar Ventilation.

Engineers then modified half of the HRV units so they appeared to supply outside air, but were only recirculating air.

This allowed Kovesi and his research team to make a comparison between the impact of more or less ventilation.

They monitored respiratory symptoms, health centre visits and indoor air quality for six months.

The team found the use of HRVs was associated with an improvement in air quality.

HRVs also led to decreases in reported respiratory symptoms and in children’s visits to the community health center for respiratory illnesses. HRVs are now being installed in new housing built by the Nunavut housing corporation.

However, the ventilation units only function in winter.

Summer air quality remains still an issue in Nunavut, Kovesi acknowledged.

“Fresh air is not always fresh” due to dust and dump burns, he said.

But the vast majority of children with lung infections are seen in the winter, so the new policy of installing HPVs may help, Kovesi said.

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