The Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program (SCIPP), a Climate Program Office Climate Adaptations Partnerships team, worked alongside the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) to draft a report on heat-related emergency department visits. The report, titled “Heat-Related Emergency Department Visits in Louisiana: Review of Syndromic Surveillance Data for April through October 2023,” details the historic heat of 2023 and provides important information for heat safety. Additionally, Dr. Vincent Brown and Charles Simson co-produced Python code with the LDH for a heat-related illness dashboard on their website that shows near-real time daily maximum temperatures and emergency department visits across Louisiana.
Derek Thompson, another researcher with SCIPP, is currently working with the LDH to analyze how emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and fatalities relate to extreme heat, as defined by temperature, heat index, and wet-bulb globe temperature. This ongoing research also includes information regarding occupational heat exposure, with the goal of providing a better understanding of when workers tend to exhibit negative health outcomes due to heat.
For more information, contact Caylah Cruickshank.
