678: HEALing Communities Study, Heat Impacts on EMS

SUMMER JOHNSON: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Tuesday, June 4, 2024. I'm Summer Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

MONIKA SALVAGE: 

So our data have helped save 141 lives with Naloxone since we started this program and 2020 in addition to the 115 lives saved by first responders.

JOHNSON: 

Monika Salvage, with New York's Cayuga County, explains their participation in the healing communities study led by the NIH and the difference it's made in their community. By April 2020, Cayuga County had already lost the same number of people to overdose deaths, as they did in all of 2019.

SALVAGE: 

However, since then, we've been able to reduce overdose fatalities and in 2023, for the first time, we were below pre-pandemic levels really defying the national trend.

JOHNSON: 

Grant funds from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and technical assistance from Columbia University allowed Cayuga County to take great strides.

SALVAGE: 

Data surveillance, action planning, implementation, and then training and supporting partner agencies. We did not have those resources before, and being able to track local data in near real time and develop measurable goals and strategies, and then collect program-level data to evaluate what's working was really a game changer for us.

JOHNSON: 

Salvage says it really does take an entire community to make such significant progress.

SALVAGE: 

What if it was your child? How many phone calls should it take to get care, and how quickly should it be available, and we wanted to build a system of care that helps people change their lives.

JOHNSON: 

You can learn more about the healing communities study by using the link in the show notes.

Dr. Hao Yu an associate professor at Harvard Medical School recently conducted a national study on the effect of last year's record heat on emergency medical services use, county by county.

HAO YU: 

We found that nearly a quarter, 23.6%, of the study counties have a substantially high theater related emergency medical service activation.

JOHNSON: 

Yu's research showed that during July 2023, many counties in the study susceptible to substantially high heat related EMS activation, had other indicators of distress.

YU: 

And we found that those counties with substantially high heat-related EMS activation were more likely to have higher social vulnerability index, which was defined by CDC and also high area depreviation index, which was defined by University of Wisconsin.

JOHNSON: 

Yu says he hopes the research pushes for state and federal intervention in these counties and that last year's record breaking temperatures should be the push we need to take those steps.

YU: 

What we experienced last July shouldn't be a wake-up call. What is especially concerning is that those vulnerable communities suffer the most from such extreme events are those who are already be identified lacking sufficient healthcare infrastructure.

JOHNSON: 

If you want to learn more about us research, there's a link in the show notes.

Also this morning ASTHO has a new resource to help health agencies address suicide. O'Keyla Cooper has more.

O'KEYLA COOPER: 

The Suicide Indicator Explorer compiles high-quality data for strong suicide prevention programs. Users can analyze risk factors, identify effective strategies, and evaluate program impact. These interactive features help health agencies address the needs of at risk populations. You can view this tool via the link in the show notes.

JOHNSON: 

Finally, this morning, if you want to track the latest public health policy news in D.C., or in states across the country, sign up for ASTHO's Legislative Alerts. The link is in the show notes.

That'll do it for today. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Summer Johnson. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.