Resources You Can Use: Climate Change and Extreme Heat

Posted by Sarah Levin-Lederer on July 18th, 2021 Posted in: Blog
Tags: climate change, Emergency Preparedness (EPP), resources

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A few weeks ago, a heat wave in the Northwest lead to a strongly worded statement from Seattle-King County Public Health and Oregon Health Authority urging Portland residents to seek help from their primary care providers for heat related illness due to high demand in Emergency Departments. At the same time another heat wave in the Northeast was setting records with a similar message from the Mayor of Boston declaring a heat emergency.

Extreme heat is becoming more and more of a health concern across the country.

Health departments and other city and state entities are enacting programs to address the health effects of climate change, especially extreme heat, with programs like the Climate-Ready States and Cities Initiatives with 16 states and two cities, including Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and New York City, Rhode Island and Vermont, participating as grantees. Another example is Miami-Dade County appointing a Chief Heat Officer in April as part of a larger Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance Project. And the CDC is promoting the Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) framework, a five-step process for health officials to develop strategies and programs to help communities prepare for the health effects of climate change.

But what are the health affects of climate change? How is climate change related to extreme heat? And how do we prepare for extreme heat?

What is climate change and how does it affect health?

• Start with the Climate Change Health Topic Page on MedlinePlus
• Learn about how Climate Change affects health in many different ways and what it means for different regions of the United States from the CDC’s Climate Effects on Health Page.
• Discover more with CDC Climate and Health videos

Climate Change and Extreme Heat Trends

• Explore Climate Change tracking data from CDC and National Environmental Public Health Tracking
• Create your own maps and compare trends over time with the data from CDC and NEPHT

Extreme Heat and Health

• Learn about heat emergencies from MedlinePlus
• And the CDC’s Temperature Extremes Page

And since weather conditions can change quickly during an emergency, make sure you’re following trusted sources on social media to avoid scams and hoaxes.  On twitter, follow @nnlm_region7, @fema, @femaregion1 (New England), @femaregion2 (New York), @nws, local news outlets, and local and state government accounts.