Dimos Polyzois, Professor & Associate Head (Research), Department of Civil Engineering, University of Manitoba, spoke about developing healthy housing standards for Canada's First Nations communities during the CECTalks webcast Moving beyond “low-cost/no-cost” healthy homes programs: The Alaska Experience on May 30. Find out more at http://cec.org/CECTalks

1. Dr. Dimos Polyzois in front
of the Ambiente Demo House
made entirely of composite
Materials built in Winnipeg
and designed for
Northern communities

2. In 2011 we received major funding from:
The Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council
and the
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
…to develop healthy housing standards for
First Nations communities
2

3. Dr. Dimos Polyzois Professor & Associate Head (Research)
Department of Civil Engineering
University of Manitoba
Dr. Eleoussa Polyzoi Professor of Education, University of Winnipeg
Dr. Pamela Orr Professor in the Departments of Medicine,
Medical Microbiology and Community Health
Sciences, University of Manitoba
Dr. Linda Larcombe Assistant Professor Department of Community
Health Sciences and Anthropology, University of
Manitoba
Dr. Kris Dick Associate Professor of Biosystems Engineering,
University of Manitoba
Dr. Marolo Alfaro Professor and Associate Head of Civil
Engineering, University of Manitoba
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RESEARCH TEAM

4. OBJECTIVES OF OUR RESEARCH STUDY
4

5. Objective #1:
Develop a set of housing standards and a process of
assessing First Nations housing to meet these standards
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6. Objective #2:
Develop a Best Practice Process for First Nations housing
renewal
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7. Objective #3:
Assess the impact of poor housing on health and
education of First Nations children
March by school children in Moosonee, Ontario in support of
Shannen's Dream - Equitable Funding for First Nation Schools.
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8. Objective #4:
Develop a Healthy Housing Index (HHI)
which will serve as a tool to measure the
link between housing conditions and
health, using both medical and building
sciences.
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9. The community of our study:
• Located approximately 80 km from Winnipeg
• Total population: 1069
• Total number of houses: 180
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10. To date, we have :
• Conducted extensive inspections of 159 houses
(90% of all homes in the community)
• Collected and analyzed over 450 air samples
• Conducted over 140 interviews with one adult from each household
• Carried out infrared thermography and energy audits of 30 homes
• Obtained permission to access the school and health records
of the children

11. Today’s discussion will focus on mould in
First Nations housing

12. What are safe levels for mould?
12

13. (Source: Schleibinger, H.; Yang, W. “Indoor air quality and mould”, IRC-ORAL-835, March 2007)
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14. “[These Guidelines] do not represent a „safe level‟ of
mould, are not applicable to homes, and in no way
represent an official Health Canada guideline or
recommendation.”
Currently, Health Canada claims:
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15. Health Canada considers indoor mould
growth to be a potential health hazard.
However,
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16. (Source: http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/obj/irc/doc/pubs/oral835/oral835.pdf)
TOTAL 1329
Cladosporium 873
Yeast 42
Alternaria 269
Epicoccum 73
Chaetomium 23
Penecilium 50
Fusarium 29
Chrysosporium 38
Aspergillus 71
Stachybotrys 75
Acremonium 19
Mucor 15
Scupulariopsis 19
Rhizopus 19
Average Mould Counts (CFU/m3)
For a First Nations Community

17. How much is too much?
17

18. RESPIRATORY HEALTH, HOUSING CONDITIONS,
AND SCHOOL ABSENTEEISM
AMONG NINE-YEAR OLD CHILDREN IN WINNIPEG
(2005 study sponsored by CIHR)
18

19. Dr. Dimos Polyzois Professor of Civil Engineering, University
of Manitoba
Dr. Eleoussa Polyzoi Professor of Education, University of
Winnipeg
Dr. Anita Kozyrskyj Associate Professor in the Department of
Community Health Sciences, Faculty of
Medicine,
and Faculty of Pharmacy, University of
Manitoba
Dr. Kimberly Thompson Associate Professor of Risk Analysis and
Decision Science
Department of Health Policy and
Management, Harvard University

20. 20
This study involved:
• 3423 Grades 3 and 4 children
• Extensive inspection of 715 homes
• 2145 air samples

21. % of Homes with Minimum CFU/m3 Cutoff Levels of 100, 200,
300, and 400 (all Species) – April
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
≥ 100/m3 ≥ 200/m3 ≥ 300/m3 ≥ 400/m3
PercentofAffectedHomes
Minimum CFU Cutoff Levels
Child’s Bedroom
Basement
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Approximately 50% of the homes had mould counts less than 100 CFU’s /m3
Less than 10% of the homes had mould counts of greater than 400CFU’s/m3

22. We also found that …
Children with reported mould in their home
were more likely to have persistent colds.
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23. Selected Findings (cont’d.)
Children with asthma living in homes with visible mould
were even more prone to persistent colds than those
without asthma.
+
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24. Selected Findings (cont’d.)
60% of children who had asthma & persistent
colds missed up to 6 days of school in the last year.
Another 20% missed up to 42 days of school.
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25. Selected Findings (cont’d.)
Children with asthma were found at all income levels:
low, middle, or high (asthma has a strong genetic
component).
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26. Selected Findings (cont’d.)
However, children from low-income families had
significantly more persistent colds than children from
high-income families.
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27. In the First Nations Community, on average:
• The mould counts were 5 times those of Winnipeg
• 88% of homes had mould counts larger than
500 CFU/m3
• 38% of the homes had at least 4 different types of
mould greater than 50 CFU/m3
• 56% of the homes had penecillium levels varying
from 6 to 750 CFU/m3
• According to Gent et al. (2012), any detectable
level (>0 CFU/m3) of Penecillium was significantly
associated with respiratory effects among
sanitized individuals

28. Questions?