Western heat wave threatens health in vulnerable communities

  • 📰 globeandmail
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 69 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 31%
  • Publisher: 92%

Health Health Headlines News

Health Health Latest News,Health Health Headlines

Record-breaking temperatures mean communities must better protect the vulnerable in western States

This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy.Extreme temperatures like the ones blistering the American West this week aren’t just annoying, they’re deadly.

Karuppana noted that many people she sees may have no car and have to take public transportation in the Phoenix heat, walking through neighbourhoods with few trees and waiting at bus and light rail stops with no or little shade. Some people live in poorly ventilated mobile homes or without air conditioning. Or they may work outside in the sun as construction workers or landscapers.

“We are activated for Phoenix and monitoring it closely,” said Nicolette Louissaint, executive director of the Washington non-profit Healthcare Ready, which was founded after Hurricane Katrina to help communities deal with natural disasters. The rising risks of the heat became painfully clear three years ago when 72-year-old Stephanie Pullman died at her Phoenix-area home after Arizona’s largest electric utility turned off her service for failure to pay $51. A coroner listed “environmental heat exposure” as one of the causes of her 2018 death.

Heat-related deaths in Maricopa County have been rising dramatically in recent years, with 323 reported last year, the highest ever recorded. The highest rates were reported among Black people and Native Americans. About 80% of those who died were men. “As the average climate warms up from increasing human-produced greenhouse gases, we are seeing more intense, more frequent and longer lasting heat waves,” Meehl said.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

Just think, it only June.

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 5. in HEALTH

Health Health Latest News, Health Health Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Urban coyotes a factor in rise of serious parasitic disease in western Canada: U of AAlberta is now a hot spot for a rare and potentially fatal disease known as alveolar echinococcosis (AE) -- a parasitic infection transmitted from canines.
Source: CTVNews - 🏆 1. / 99 Read more »