Series - Editorial Fellowship: Climate Change and Human Health

People with schizophrenia will be vastly overrepresented in this summer’s heatwave deaths. Changemakers can prevent that.

Author Brennan Doherty
Schizophrenia, along with other severe mental health conditions like bipolar disorder, limit a person’s heat regulation abilities – but social determinants of health also play a role.

Why It Matters

Social purpose organizations form the backbone of frontline mental health care in Canada, and extreme heat waves are threatening some of the most vulnerable clients they serve. Without drastic action, death tolls among people with severe mental health issues will only rise in future.

var TRINITY_TTS_WP_CONFIG = {"cleanText":"People with schizophrenia will be vastly overrepresented in this summer\u2019s heatwave deaths. Changemakers can prevent that.. \u00a0 This journalism is made possible by the Future of Good editorial fellowship on climate change and human health, supported by Manulife. See our editorial ethics and standards here. For one sweltering week in the summer of 2018, Tiohti\u00e0:ke, also known as Montreal, faced daytime temperatures as high as 35.5 C during the day \u2013 hotter than the summer averages seen in Mumbai. With the humidity, Quebec\u2019s largest city felt more like 40 C, and nightly temperatures never fell below 20 C. From June 30 to July 8, 2018, this heat wave killed 66 people across Montreal, according to a report released by Montreal\u2019s public

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