Supreme: An integrated Heat Health Warning System for Quebec

The SUPREME system, developed by the INSPQ in 2010 together with a users committee, provides access to indicators that relate exposure to hazards (temperatures, urban heat islands, etc.), socioeconomic characteristics of neighbourhoods (population density, deprivation index, etc.), health problems (deaths, emergency room admissions, etc.), and follow-up during and after an intervention by field teams. Post-event reports are produced regionally and aggregated annually.

In Québec, SUPREME currently represents the sole common source of relevant and real-time information at the provincial level for extreme weather hazards. The SUPREME system was implemented through group training sessions in 2010 and 2011, which helped develop a common understanding of extreme heat thresholds and essential preventive interventions. The system stimulates mobilization and collaboration between neighbouring regions, the ministry of health and the INSPQ that now cooperate for field intervention harmonization and comparison of vulnerability analysis. In 2008, the definition of intervention thresholds and the need for public health authorities to better understand the strengths and limits of weather forecast led to an intense collaboration between the INSPQ and the MSC that has endured.