In the summer of 2021, researchers at UT Austinall the heat-related EMS calls in the city, plus the response time to those incidents, calculated by combining how long it took EMS to respond to the scene with how long it took to get to the nearest hospital.
“I strongly believe that it's crucial for policymakers to identify areas with a higher vulnerability and limited accessibility to EMS services as a top priority for improvement,” Kijin Seong, the study’s lead author, said.warns that increases in temperature beyond seasonal norms are associated with worse cardiovascular and respiratory outcomes, as well as chronic diseases, including diabetes.
They also found shade made a difference; a playground at Barrington School Park shaded by mature trees stayed around 10 degrees cooler than unshaded playground just 100 feet away. Children tended to shift their activity to the shaded areas at all parks. According to Lanza, the same principles hold beyond the schoolyard as well. To create cooler commutes for people who use public transportation on the East Side, he recommends planting trees and adding shade structures along bike paths and walking trails, as well as the paths commonly taken to the bus stop. It’s a concept he calls “cool corridors.”