San Francisco Prepares For Climate Change
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - San Francisco is not currently known for extreme heat, but climate change could bring just that in the future.
And that has officials with the San Francisco Department of Public Health preparing to deal with a potential increase in heat-related illnesses as global temperatures rise.
"One health outcome from climate change is heat-related illness," said San Francisco Department of Public Health Environmental Planner Cyndy Scully. "This can translate to a significant public health burden. Most of these illnesses are largely preventable."
KCBS' Melissa Culross Reports:
Scully said her department has been awarded a three-year, $360,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assess the risk of heat-related illness among San Francisco's population and create a disaster plan for heat-related events.
She said the more we learn about these type of illnesses, the more important this kind of planning becomes.
"Up until five years ago, there wasn't a lot of research on it," Scully said. "But we now know that extreme heat events are the number one cause of weather-related fatalities in the United States and that it is becoming a major health problem."
Scully adds that if the Public Health Department knows where the city's most vulnerable populations are, the department can work on education and opening cooling centers when necessary.
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