This year’s Climate Week NYC—the largest annual climate-related event of its kind, according to its site—was the first to feature a dedicated healthcare panel, and a recurring theme was how to create a healthcare industry that’s properly prepared for the effects of extreme heat.
Extreme heat can not only lead to heat stroke, dehydration, and heat exhaustion, but it can also have negative long-term impacts on patients living with asthma, kidney issues, and high blood pressure, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Specifically, older adults, pregnant people, people of color, people who earn lower incomes, and people with preexisting conditions like diabetes, hypertension, or cardiovascular disease are all at increased risk of developing a heat-related illness.
Heat is a major topic on healthcare experts’ minds, and they want to find solutions to better treat patients. On September 23, one of the healthcare panels—which featured experts from the nonprofits SWLA Center for Health Services, Americares, and the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), and was moderated by Paulette Frank, Johnson & Johnson’s chief sustainability officer—discussed how health systems can prepare for the effects of climate change, as well as how providers can navigate and respond to extreme heat-related illnesses.
“I look at [patient vulnerability] from two points of view: one, those who have conditions that put them at greater risk for human existence, and secondly, where you live in an environment,” Victor Dzau, president of NAM, a nonprofit that advises on health and science, said during the panel.
According to the HHS, the number of heat-related deaths has been steadily increasing in recent years. In 2023, there were approximately 2,302 deaths reportedly linked to heat in the US, up from 1,602 in 2021.
Coming together. In an effort to address some of the challenges climate change poses for the industry, NAM created the Grand Challenge on Climate Change, Human Health, and Equity initiative in 2020, Dzau said, to bring together academics, government officials, and leaders from Big Pharma companies, adding that the goal of the initiative is to set goals related to carbon emissions and better care.
Within this initiative is NAM’s Climate Communities Network (CCN), he said, which has a heat map that identifies which communities are most susceptible to extreme heat. To date, members have identified 18 high-risk communities, according to Dzau, and the network has brought together partners including AstraZeneca, the American Public Health Association, and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to determine what resources are needed and create solutions for addressing extreme heat.
CCN works with member communities to identify health disparities in areas impacted by climate change, including the Boston Medical Center, Maryland Latinos Unidos, and California-based Chico State Enterprises. In Maryland, for instance, one CCN member identified extreme temperatures, air quality, and spreading education and awareness as the most pressing issues, according to NAM’s Member Experience Map.
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Reaching marginalized communities. Low-income communities are at an increased risk for extreme weather-related illnesses due to inadequate access to things like air conditioners or affordability issues, according to Crystal Decuir, chief nursing officer at the Louisiana-based SWLA Center for Health Services. During the panel, healthcare nonprofit Americares Associate Director of Climate and Disaster Resilience Nathaniel Matthews-Trigg described how the company has partnered with facilities nationwide that provide free care for uninsured and underinsured patients, such as the SWLA, which it has partnered with since 2020.
Partnering clinics fill out assessments about staffing, resources, and patient population to generate customized heat health plans, Matthews-Trigg said. This summer, there were 44 clinics involved in this effort across Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oregon, and Texas, but he hopes to have 100 by the end of next year.
The assessments help paint a better picture of what patients need to combat heat-related health issues, Decuir said during the panel.
With this data, she said the clinic has been able to increase and direct supplies, like cold packs, to aid patients who were fainting due to the heat. It has also partnered with community agencies and colleges to share resources and determine which areas might benefit the most from cooling centers.
“We [included] heat as a part of our equity plan…We improve the key where the leadership can be directly involved with so heat is a normal topic every week,” Decuir said. “We want to make sure that we are giving our patients, as well as our staff, the opportunity to be prepared.”
Pharma’s role. It isn’t just the health systems that are making strides to address extreme weather. Pharma giant AstraZeneca has been working to improve the overall industry by creating collective action plans with other pharmaceutical companies, the company’s VP of Global Sustainability Liz Chatwin told Healthcare Brew.
AstraZeneca also convenes a Sustainable Markets Initiative Health Systems Task Force, which brings together 14 healthcare execs to drive sustainability efforts. Chaired by CEO Pascal Soriot and launched at the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, commonly known as COP26, the group helps health systems work toward net-zero emissions, and is “also helping healthcare systems to be more resilient with managing the rise in these kinds of conditions,” Chatwin said.
Beyond that, AstraZeneca’s Healthy Heart Africa program, which the company started in 2014, has trained 11,000 healthcare workers across nine African countries to diagnose high blood pressure and screen for hypertension, both of which can be exacerbated by extreme heat, she said. The program is set to expand to also diagnose and treat chronic kidney disease by 2025, Chatwin added.
“We are really trying to do our part in terms of reducing the impact of our business on the climate, but then also helping systems be more resilient to cope with those stresses,” Chatwin said.