For as many summers as I can remember in recent years, one of the first questions I would ask my 94-year-old mom most often was simply: “Have you had a glass of water today?”
In honour of my adopted mother and with huge respect and excitement, I said YES to walk beside a new research-led community storytelling initiative called HEAT & ELDERS: Care for Seniors in a Changing Climate…
As temperatures climbed across BC, and smoke from forest fires filled the air, I found myself thinking constantly about hydration, cooling spaces, air quality, and how vulnerable many older adults can become during periods of extreme heat.
What struck me most was how quickly something as ordinary as a hot week could become dangerous. Especially for seniors living alone, which my adopted mother, Ruth, did up until she transitioned last Spring.
I couldn’t stop myself when Simon Fraser University’s Lifelong Health and Wellbeing Lab invited me to walk beside a new research-led community storytelling initiative called HEAT & ELDERS: Care for Seniors in a Changing Climate…
This emerged as a knowledge mobilization initiative from their “Promoting Heat Resilience among Older Adults through Group-Based Arts” study.
Over the next few months, I’ll be supporting the project as an impact storyteller and regenerative media partner through reGEN Impact Media and reGEN Story Studios, helping document and amplify both the research and the human stories emerging through the work.
This work matters deeply. We all have parents, elders, and neighbours. Climate change is no longer theoretical. It is lived reality, so how do we cultivate heat resilience with care.
A Different Approach to Climate Resilience
This summer, older adults aged 60+ in Metro Vancouver are being invited to participate in a 10-week arts-based workshop at SFU Harbour Centre exploring climate education, social connection, creative self-expression as ways to build heat resilience and promote emotional wellbeing.
The workshop sessions will integrate:
The experience will culminate in a public dramatic performance on Granville Island designed to bring visibility, awareness, and community conversation to the realities many older adults are navigating in a warming world
Meet Aryana Mohammed
At the heart of the project is Aryana Mohammed, a performing artist, drama educator, and MA Gerontology student at Simon Fraser University whose work beautifully bridges data-driven insights on heat with mental health, creative expression, and community care.
Aryana developed this initiative after witnessing firsthand the psychosocial benefits of arts-based activities through both her teaching and volunteer work with older adults.
“These activities fostered social connection and provided a medium for individuals to process experiences through self-expression in an emotionally safe environment,” she recently shared with me.
While working on climate-related research through the COPE project at SFU’s Lifelong Health and Wellbeing Lab, Aryana also became increasingly aware of the growing risks extreme heat poses for seniors and the urgent need for more supportive, community-centred responses.
“This project is personal to me as well,” she explained. “As a Caribbean national from Trinidad and Tobago, I have lived experience of heat. Right now, my own country is on alert for hotter-than-average days with temperatures likely to exceed 34 degrees in some areas.”
That intersection of lived experience, research, creativity, and care is what makes this initiative feel so timely and important.
What If Cooling Spaces Felt Human?
One of the most powerful aspects of this project is that it reimagines what climate adaptation can actually feel like. Not transactional. Not isolating. Not simply a room with air conditioning, but welcoming spaces rooted in creativity, dignity, participation, and connection.
Spaces where older adults are not treated as passive recipients of care, but as collaborators, storytellers, artists, neighbours, mentors, and contributors to community resilience.
The project also recognizes something we don’t speak about nearly enough:
Climate resilience is social.
When people feel connected, seen, informed, and supported, resilience strengthens naturally: Friendships form. People check in on one another. Practical knowledge spreads. Isolation decreases. Confidence grows.
Sometimes resilience begins with something as simple as:
“Did you drink enough water today?
If you are part of an organization working in seniors’ wellbeing, climate resilience, health equity, or community care, we are also currently seeking aligned community partners and impact media sponsors to help support storytelling amplification, cooling kits, public engagement activities, and broader community activation and knowledge mobilization surrounding this project.
Simple Ways We Can Support Elders During Extreme Heat
As warmer months approach, there are practical things all of us can do now to better support older adults in our families and communities:
- Encourage hydration throughout the day, even before thirst sets in.
- Help identify nearby cooling spaces such as libraries, malls, or community centres.
- Check in regularly with older neighbours, friends, or family members during heat events.
- Support cooling practices at home by closing blinds, trapping cool air overnight, and reducing oven use during peak heat.
- Help create welcoming community spaces that include meaningful activities, conversation, and connection, not just cooling.
Most importantly, we can normalize care. Because preparation is not panic. It is community wisdom in action.
Why This Matters
Research. Creativity. Community care. Practical action. Human dignity. Stories that help people feel less alone. Not fear-based narratives.
Sharing and participating in stories that help us to shift narratives and strengthen resilience with care, both positively and proactively. This matters, especially now.
At reGEN, we often speak about regenerative storytelling and the role media can play in shaping healthier futures. Projects like this demonstrate what that can look like in real time.
If you know an older adult in Metro Vancouver who may benefit from participating in this summer arts program, we encourage you to review the participant information flyer above and share this information. Or, if you can support this project as a community partner or project sponsor, reach out to charlene@regenimpactmedia.com.
An invitation
If you’d like to support this project in some way, please connect with Charlene@regenimpactmedia.com
Useful Links to Share:
SFU Lifelong Health and Wellbeing Lab
Cooling Center Map:
BC Hydro Free Air Conditioner Program:
How to Check-In and Support Others During Hot Weather:
- Extreme Heat Health Check Tool
- Heat Check-In Support Framework
- Extreme Heat Check-In Training
- Extreme Heat Check-Ins: Train the Trainer
Vancouver Coastal Health Resource Page for Extreme Heat:
