Sudbury contractor looks to improvise building material to prevent frostbite among homeless

A Sudbury woman is using her construction know-how to engineer a building material that may save people living outside from losing extremities due to extreme cold.

Stephanie Rees, a contractor with S.P. Paris Construction, said she has been appalled by media reports of people suffering from frostbite. She took up an offer of a tour of Sudbury’s downtown tent encampment, and came up with one way to help people living in tents.

“We see it in the news every day that something's going on within the entirety of Canada, but everybody wants to go and give food, or clothing, or try to donate money to the very needed services. But there's no real solution to help the frostbite” 

Rees said a resident of the encampment showed her around, and she noticed a couple of problems right away. 

She said people weren’t venting their tents, keeping cold and moisture inside, like a freezer

The other problem was that there was nothing between people and the cold ground.

“A lot of them were getting frostbite on the bottoms of their feet, and their boots get wet,” she said. “They have no way to dry them.”

Rees came up with the idea of using reflective insulation as a base for the tents. She also cut the insulation into the shapes of boot and hat liners to repel the cold.

The material consists of aluminum foil layers which are bonded to polyethylene bubbles.

She and her fiancé Steve Paris purchased eight rolls of the material and turned it into about thirty kits.

Other organizations like Auto Depot and the Burton Family Foundation have also helped to create more than fifty kits so far.

The community engagement officer with the Go-Give project, Ali Farooq, said the kits help people retain body heat, reduce heat loss from the ground, and offer a safer alternative to improvised heating methods that can increase fire or carbon monoxide risk.

“We're fairly confident that those who have already received it and set it up in their tents. will have at least some respite from the cold,” he said.

Rees says it's one step towards helping people.

“I feel optimistic that there's at least some sort of resolution,” said Rees. “Not permanent, obviously, but just to the frostbite alone.”

Rees said, obviously the material won't prevent people from getting cold. But it may save some from the ravages of frostbite.