Air Health Our Health Heat Kills- Hot Air Dangers & Solutions with Prof Ollie Jay
I was working ICU in June of 2021 during the heat dome in Oregon. Temperatures spiked to 116 degrees, which led to severe critical illness and death in our community. How does heat kill so quickly? What can we do to prevent it? For this episode, I am joined by Professor Ollie Jay. He is the Director of the Heat and Health Research Incubator and Thermal Ergonomics Laboratory in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at The University of Sydney in Australia. He studies extreme heat, and what we can do for ourselves, our homes, and our communities to keep people safe. We talk about the importance of understanding physiology, and how it is so important to know individual risk in individual situations- what we do to keep cool can change depending on our own vulnerabilities, what we are doing, what we are wearing, as well as the temperature and humidity in the air.
To Do
Install the ClimApp for personalized thermal warnings.
Make a plan for heat events with your family and for what you will do in case of power outages, brown outs and black outs.
Find out who is vulnerable in your home and community, and make sure they know what to do to keep cool in heat.
Check with your school about heat events plans. Let them know about the Extreme Heat Sports tool Ollie Jay shared in this episode.
- Consider a “fan first” strategy in your home in warm weather- set the thermostat higher and use fans for circulation prior to turning on the AC. Save on energy bills and decrease greenhouse gas emissions, though if there is no AC, make sure to pay attention to alerts of thresholds at which fan use may be harmful.
6. Find out what your city, county, and state are doing to decrease greenhouse gas emissions and build for heat resiliency in your community.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit blog post for more information, or go to airhealthourhealth.org.
Follow and comment on Facebook page and Instagram.
Record a question or comment on the podcast site or send an e-mail via the website.