Health
This article is part of a collaboration with Boulder Reporting Lab, The Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder, KUNC public radio and The Conversation U.S. to explore the impacts of the devastating Marshall Fire one year after the blaze. The series can be found at the Boulder Reporting Lab. On Dec. 30, 2021, one of the most destructive wildfires on record in Colorado swept through neighborhoods just a few miles from our offices at the University of Colorado Boulder. The flames destroyed over 1,000 buildings, yet when we drove through the affected neighborhoods, some houses were still completely intact right next to homes where nothing was left to burn. Although the people who lived in these still-standing homes were spared the loss of everything they owned, when they returned after the fire, they found another disaster. Noxious smells and ash on their windowsills and doorways initially made their homes unlivable – and potentially hazardo...
Leer in español There are questions that worry me profoundly as a population- and environmental-health scientist. Will we have enough food for a growing global population? How will we take care of more people in the next pandemic? What will heat do to millions with hypertension? Will countries wage water wars because of increasing droughts? These risks all have three things in common: health, climate change and a growing population that the United Nations determined passed 8 billion people in November 2022 – double the population of just 48 years ago. In my 40-year career, first working in the Amazon rainforest and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and then in academia, I have encountered many public health threats, but none so intransigent and pervasive as climate change. Of the multitude of climate-related adverse health effects, the following four represent the greatest public health concerns for a growing population. Infectious disease...
Hurricane Ian, one of the most powerful storms to hit the U.S., tore part of the roof off a hospital in Port Charlotte, Florida, and flooded the building’s lower level emergency room, sending staff scrambling to move patients as water poured in. At least nine hospitals and dozens of nursing homes had to transfer patients after losing access to clean water because of the storm. Health care services are essential at any time, but when disasters strike, those services become even more crucial as injuries rise. Yet in many coastal communities, the hospitals were built in locations that are at increasingly high risk of flooding during hurricanes. I study ways to improve disaster communications, including how health care organizations prepare for severe weather events. Here’s what research shows about the rising risks. High percentage of coastal hospitals at risk Given the impact of climate change, many areas are susceptible to severe weather events and hazards. Healt...
As mandatory evacuations for Hurricane Ian began in Florida and the warnings about damaging wind and flooding intensified, I called my aging parents to check in. Being a disaster researcher, my concern for them was already in high gear, even though they weren’t directly in an evacuation zone. My dad takes medications that require refrigeration, special needles and a sterile environment to administer. My mom is in the early stages of dementia. Both are not as spry as they used to be. I heard the worry in their voice about their safety, about my dad’s health needs, and about what might happen to their house. As I sat at home hundreds of miles away, I thought about all the reasons why leaving isn’t always a clear decision. Concerns about health and home security are two reasons older adults might fear evacuating during disasters like Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Scott Olson/Getty Images...