{"id":410005,"date":"2026-01-15T02:53:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T02:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/410005\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T02:53:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T02:53:10","slug":"limbs-lost-to-frostbite-a-hidden-tragedy-sudbury-advocate-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/410005\/","title":{"rendered":"Limbs lost to frostbite a ‘hidden tragedy,’ Sudbury advocate says\u00a0 \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

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News<\/a>Local News<\/a><\/p>\n

Rabble-rousers Against Frostbite wants this kind of information to be collected and shared and action taken to reduce such injuries<\/p>\n

Published Jan 14, 2026 \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 Last updated 5\u00a0hours ago \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 5 minute read<\/p>\n

\"frostbite\"Jack Frost not only nips at noses but can take off entire tips, along with toes and fingers, and can even cause death. It\u2019s\u00a0a particular risk for the unhoused population that\u00a0has to\u00a0tough it out during winter in these parts. SUBMITTEDArticle content<\/p>\n

Jack Frost not only nips at noses but can take off entire tips, along with toes and fingers, and can even cause death. <\/p>\n

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It\u2019s\u00a0a particular risk for the unhoused population that\u00a0has to\u00a0tough it out during winter in these parts. Yet stats on injury and mortality from extreme cold are not systematically collected or reported, making it difficult to measure the scope of the hazard and\u00a0allocate\u00a0appropriate resources.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

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A local retiree and self-described rabble-rouser\u00a0is\u00a0leading a campaign to change that. <\/p>\n

\u201cI believe we need the data,\u201d said Holland Marshall. \u201cWe need to know how many people are having serious frostbite, how many are getting amputations, losing their toes or a complete foot or their fingers.<\/p>\n

And we need to know how many have died.\u201d <\/p>\n

Marshall said he met a homeless man in Memorial Park last summer who had lost four fingertips and two toes from exposure to cold over the\u00a0previous\u00a0two winters. <\/p>\n

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\u201cIt kept bothering me, because I kept thinking, what\u2019s going to happen to him this winter?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I got a photograph sent to me of a man whose fingertips are all black, so he\u2019s going to have to have those amputated.\u201d <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, his wife encountered an older man panhandling outside the Food Basics in the south end.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she gave him some change, she noticed the tips of the fingers on his left hand are all missing,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

In a letter he sent to The Star, Marshall characterized this kind of suffering as a \u201chidden tragedy,\u201d given there is no inventory to show its\u00a0prevalence\u00a0and the public is only made aware of it when they\u00a0encounter\u00a0a victim in person. <\/p>\n

\u201cI worked in management,\u201d said the former Nortel supervisor. \u201cThe big rule there is that if you\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0measure something, it\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0important. And if you\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0measure it, you\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know if you are making any progress.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Public Health Sudbury and Districts<\/a> agrees that there is not enough information on winter wounding, but not because the agency is uninterested. Indeed, it would welcome the chance to document and publish timely stats. <\/p>\n

\u201cCold-related injuries are diagnosed by a range of health-care and other agencies, including emergency departments, urgent-care\u00a0centres, primary-care providers, shelters, and many others,\u201d the health unit said in a statement, but \u201cthis data is not reported to Public Health, nor does Public Health have the authority to collect it.\u201d <\/p>\n

PHSD said it does eventually receive some data on frostbite injuries through statistical agencies, but it\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0available until \u201cseveral months later\u201d and \u201cdoes not help inform the acute situation on the ground.\u201d <\/p>\n

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The main source of data is the Acute Care Enhanced Surveillance System<\/a>, which \u201ccollates how emergency departments are triaging patients,\u201d said the health unit. This is useful, but far from comprehensive. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt does not indicate what was the ultimate diagnosis of a patient (what is triaged is often not ultimately correct once a patient is formally assessed),\u201d said Public Health. \u201cAs well, it looks only at emergency departments and excludes the many more patients who are\u00a0likely seen\u00a0at urgent care, primary care, and health-care providers associated with shelters or social services. And it also excludes many people who may never present to health care.\u201d <\/p>\n

The coroner\u2019s office collects data on cold-related deaths, but this info \u201cis not routinely shared publicly, nor with Public Health,\u201d the agency said, and it only speaks to fatalities, not injuries. <\/p>\n

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PHSD said it supports \u201cthe creation of a more complete, centralized, timely and public reporting system for cold-related injuries or deaths,\u201d which would enable both it and other health units \u201cto gain a better understanding of the scope of the issue, particularly during a current winter season.\u201d <\/p>\n

Marshall has launched a\u00a0group he\u00a0named Rabble-rousers Against Frostbite.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a \u201cloose group of citizens\u201d that counts about eight members at present, he said, most of them in Sudbury, but also one in North Bay and another in Toronto. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been\u00a0sending out\u00a0requests to all the MPPs in Northern Ontario to either meet with me in person or have a phone call, and eventually I want to get to all of Ontario,\u201d he said. \u201cMy focus\u00a0is\u00a0we need the data. We have the data on opioid overdose and death; we need the data on people in the winter freezing to death or having half their fingers taken off.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Once that is readily available to the media and in an online form, citizens can study themselves, Marshall believes it can lead to some concerted action to spare further suffering. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe can say, hey, please stop this,\u201d he said. \u201cSo\u00a0if your husband or kids or grandchildren go out there and become homeless, at least they aren\u2019t going to freeze to death.\u201d <\/p>\n

Marshall said he received a prompt and supportive response from Sudbury MPP Jamie West. Vic Fedeli, the Conservative MPP for Nipissing, has not been quite so supportive as yet, he said, but other Northern politicians are also getting on board. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anything will happen until next October as far as changing regulations, so this winter is a write-off, but hopefully by next winter there will be something in place,\u201d he said.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

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For PHSD and other health units to become the central recipients of frostbite data, \u201cnew provincial legislation would be needed requiring that primary care, hospitals, urgent-care\u00a0centres, shelters, and similar organizations report all cold-related injuries to public health,\u201d the agency said. \u201cThis approach would mirror the legislation that exists requiring the reporting of certain infectious disease to Public Health.\u201d <\/p>\n

Health units would also need\u00a0additional\u00a0funding \u201cto develop the data infrastructure and to have the\u00a0staffing to\u00a0analyze and report on this data publicly,\u201d said PHSD. <\/p>\n

Given recent interest in this topic, the local health unit said it has begun discussions with the Office of the Chief Coroner to see what might be possible to access through them.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope to further explore what can be done within existing authorities and budget,\u201d the agency said. \u201cHowever, this exploration will take time, and we are uncertain if much more will ultimately be possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

jmoodie@postmedia.com<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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