HJNO May/Jun 2023

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS I  MAY / JUN 2023 27 where I kept thinking, “This is abstract, this is environmental, what do we do about it?” And there’s so much that we need to know about it from the healthcare field. There are about 700 heat related deaths a year now. And as we’re seeing these climate changes, there’s a lot that we can do. Hot weather is associated with an increase in heat related illness, but also cardiovascular and respira- tory complications, renal failure, impacts on fetal health and preterm birth. We can do things like making sure that when there are more of these extreme heat events, we have cooling centers and water sites, and also have heat health alert systems. We’ve seen several states now change the number and the temperature to be able to issue these on a more regular basis. This just shows many other areas that are now being impacted by climate and health. The two that really strike me are in Geor- gia, nowwe might see Lyme disease because we’re seeing a lot of these pathogens change because of the temperatures. Similarly, there are now a lot more harmful algal blooms that we’re seeing, which are resulting in respiratory illnesses. So, in your environ- ment and your city, it’s important to know what the changes are driving some of these health conditions. This past year it probably was a sur- prise to many of us when we had a case of polio in the U.S. We’re also seeing measles outbreaks. What we’ve tried to do is work closely in communities. When we saw the polio case, we began conducting wastewa- ter investigation to see if there are other circulating polio viruses. And that’s where we know that we need to be vaccinating even more and doing more campaigns. Similarly, with the measles outbreaks, we knew where the communities were, but we needed to work closely with pediatricians, again, as trusted messengers that knew the communities and to have culturally rele- vant materials. Because many of this was either religion-driven or culturally driven, and we needed to make sure that we could have those conversations and meet people where they were, so they understood the benefits of vaccination. Speaking of vaccination, health provid- ers, again, I can’t stress enough, are such trusted messengers; and the decision to get a COVID vaccine is an important one that we should recommend to patients including children, pregnant people, and those with weakened immune systems. Coupling vac- cine confidence, safety, and effectiveness information with communication strate- gies can really help us seize on opportu- nities to increase vaccine uptake. When recommendations are based in safety and effectiveness, patients can feel confident in their decision to get vaccinated. And this has ripple effects that can touch others in their family and the community, really bettering public health for us all. The CDC has a free app available to provide recommended vac- cination schedules. Syndemics are when you have multiple epidemics that have exacerbated things like HIV — you also have hepatitis and drug overdose. These really have adverse out- comes in communities. Some of the things Image 3 Adapted from: Healthy People 2030. “Social Determinants of Health.” https://health.gov/healthypeople/priority-areas/social-determinants-health