The Yukon Housing Corp. has launched a quarter-million-dollar upgrade to the ventilation system at a Whitehorse seniors home after a resident reported health issues associated with contaminated air.

The overhaul, now half-completed, came in response to complaints by Davina Harker, a resident at Closeleigh Manor, a 32-suite housing facility at the corner of Lambert and Fronts streets.

Harker told the Star that over the past 12 months, she’s experienced symptoms that included headaches, dizziness, drowsiness, chronic exhaustion, mental fatigue and cognitive problems like memory loss.

“Last winter, I became very, very ill as I confined myself more to my building,” she said.

It was only when a friend came over — following Harker’s offer to bake for a public event — and felt similarly sick that she realized the problem might be related to the building itself.

“A blueberry streusel saved my life probably,” Harker said, laughing.

Yukon Housing, which oversees the public residence, hired Northern Climate Engineering to conduct a thorough investigation of the ventilation system — installed during the building’s construction in 1987-88.

The engineering firm’s March report found the air system in a dire state.

“Upon review of the physical condition of the mechanical equipment, the lack of preventative maintenance is apparent,” the assessment read.

“(T)he air-handling units, the filters, belts, and sheaves are ... in poor condition.”

Belts in the “primary air-handling unit” were “worn” such that air flow was reduced “at least 50 per cent.”

“The secondary air-handling units showed a definitive lack of general maintenance. The belts all showed cracking, some with separation from the reinforcing bands in the belt,” the report stated.

Carbon dioxide readings “were generally below levels that provide a cause for concern.”

However, readings in three rooms were “at, or nearly at, CO2 levels where additional ventilation is required.”

The report acknowledges that “readings ... are highly variable” due to external factors — trucks idling behind the building, for example — and the type of detection device used — some measure finer particulate than others.

Harker remains concerned that recent upgrades have not gone far enough.

She says an independent air test she conducted revealed particulate levels that far exceed the healthy norm.

“Every time I go and stay somewhere else, I’m perfectly fine after four days,” she said. “When I come back, I have those symptoms again.”

She said her recent readings, as well as those by an independent assessor she consulted, yielded up to 16,000 particles per cubic centimetre — far above the 2,500 to 5,000 detected by Northern Climate Engineering.

Yukon Housing is carrying out the report’s recommendations.

Following a public tender process, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) specialists cleaned the building’s ventilation system, upgraded its filters to capture smaller particulates and repaired duct leaks.

Yukon Housing has also hired a local firm to relocate the air intake from lower down on the west side of the building, near the parking lot where cars and delivery trucks often idle, to higher up on the south wall on Lambert Street.

Work is expected to be completed at the end of October, said Darren Stahl, the director of capital projects with Yukon Housing.

“We deal with maintenance issues as they arise,” he told the Star today.

Extending the chimney and balancing the ventilation system have yet to happen.

“After that is completed, YG (the territorial government) is committed to holding a tenant meeting ... to answer and address any tenant questions,” said Yukon Housing spokesperson Doug Caldwell.

“We fully expect that this work will lead to a better building and happiness.”