Wildfire Smoke Episodes

Oregon Health Authority's Gabriela Goldfarb and the Minnesota Department of Health's Kathy Koehler Raleigh discuss the health risks of wildfire smoke and extreme heat, along with practical advice on protecting communities from these events.

Wildfire smoke is no longer a rare emergency; it’s a predictable, climate-driven public health threat. In this episode, Gabriela Goldfarb, environmental public health section manager for the Oregon Health Authority's Public Health Division, tells us why health agencies must begin outreach and coordination long before wildfire season starts. Goldfarb walks through Oregon’s collaborative wildfire smoke response protocol, explaining how state, federal, tribal, and local partners translate complex data into timely public health advisories.

Shalini Nair, senior analyst for infectious disease at ASTHO, tells public health professionals everything they need to know about New World screwworm (NWS), and what to do if their state experiences a case; Maggie Nilz, senior analyst for preparedness at ASTHO, shares information from a new Health Policy Update on public health preparedness for extreme weather events...

Former ASTHO president Dr. Anne Zink, senior clinical fellow at Yale University and practicing emergency medicine physician, shares how PopHIVE, a database of de-identified, population-level health data, draws data from various sources, allowing public health providers to find patterns and make informed decisions; Nicholas Porter, director for environmental health at ASTHO, discusses...

Dr. Laura Herrera Scott, secretary of health for the Maryland Department of Health and an ASTHO Member, tells us how Maryland was the first state to sign on to the AHEAD Model released by CMS; Jessica Byrski, senior policy analyst for the National...