By receiving phone alerts about poor air quality and following recommendations for that day’s Air Quality Health Index, subscribers can plan their activities to better protect themselves from the short term effects of air pollution, or can adjust their medication as appropriate. See the examples of Paul and Anne.
Sign Up Free for the Advisory Service
Sign up free for the Air Quality Health Index Advisory Service. You’ll receive email, text, or telephone advisories when air quality is poor and the Air Quality Health Index indicates a high risk level for their locality.
This service was specially designed for vulnerable individuals to help them plan and adjust their outdoor activities when the health risk from poor air quality is high.
Currently, the Air Quality Health Index Advisory Service is available in the Island of Montréal, Gatineau/Ottawa, and Québec City metropolitan areas. Why isn’t this service available everywhere?
Persons Concerned
The automatic alert service is particularly for people vulnerable to air pollution. Am I vulnerable to air pollution?
Two ways to sign up
There are two ways to sign up:
- Online to receive advisories by email, text, or telephone.
- By phone by calling 1-866-688-3810 from the telephone number from which you wish to receive phone advisories.
- From the menu, select the “Sign up for advisories” option
- Follow the instructions carefully. This involves answering a few standard questions for statistical and quality improvement purposes.
- When you hear the confirmation message, your subscription is confirmed.
- Your phone number will be automatically recorded by the system during the signup process. It is therefore essential that you call from the same phone number you want to use to receive the alerts.
Information Requested When You Sign Up
You will need to provide the name of your town or city, the borough where you live, your gender, the age group you belong to, and your health status (any presence of respiratory or cardiac illness). You do not need to enter your name, as subscription to the service is anonymous and all information collected will remain confidential.
Multiple Subscriptions
Although not recommended, you can sign up to receive advisories in more than one format: any combination of email, text, or telephone advisories. However, you must sign up for each number.
To Sign Up for Someone Else
As a guardian, you can sign up for someone else such as an elderly parent or a minor who has a cardiac or respiratory illness.
You must call from the phone number the alerts will be sent to, if it is not your own, and answer the questions according to the user’s profile.
Technical Problems
If you were not able to sign up your first try because of a technical problem or glitch, simply try again.
How does Alert Service works?
The advisory service continuously monitors developments in the Air Quality Health Index for a specific area.
Issuance of Alerts
Alerts are issued automatically based on specific criteria established by Direction de santé publique for that particular region, whenever poor air quality increases the level of health risk. For example, alerts are issued when the Air Quality Health Index reaches 6 or more for the city of Québec and its surrounding area. These periods of poor air quality may last less than a day or for several days.
Each time an advisory is issued, a notification is sent out immediately. You will always be notified when the advisory is lifted. If the poor air quality lasts for a number of days, a reminder message is sent daily for up to four consecutive days.
Alert Messages
Advisories are sent either by email, text, or telephone as selected by the subscriber.
Advisories are sent out between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. They indicate the Air Quality Health Index level as well as health recommendations for that level.
Alert messages may concern that day’s air quality (Air Quality Health Index alert) or air quality for the next day (Air Quality Health Index forecast).
The system will sometimes send out advisories when poor air quality might be dangerous to vulnerable individuals in your area, even if the threshold for issuing an Air Quality Health Advisory has not been reached.
What do I do if I receive an advisory?
In the Alert Goes Unanswered
If there is no answer or the line is busy at the time of call:
- The system will leave a message with your voice mail or on your answering machine.
- If you do not have an answering machine or voice mail, the system will call back up to 2 times within 30 to 60 minutes of the first call.
Terms of Use
No terms of use apply to the service.
