Extreme Heat Safety 06
Extreme Heat Safety 06 : Preparing Your Community for Extreme Heat Events: (b) Developing a Heat Response Plan: Before developing their own heat response plan, agencies and organizations should contact their county emergency management personnel to see if an Extreme Heat Response Emergency Operations Guide is not already in place for the area being considered. Heat response plans have been shown to be effective in reducing heat-related mortality. Heat response plans describe in detail the roles and actions of government agencies and nongovernmental organizations for preventing morbidity and mortality from an extreme heat event. Each city or county in Kansas should have a heat response plan. The level of detail and the number of strategies in the plan will vary based on available resources, geographic location, agencies and organizations involved in planning and responding, and the types and distribution of vulnerable populations. All Response Plans should contain the following six elements: (1) Lead Agency: A lead agency for implementing the extreme heat response plan should be identified. Typically, a health department or emergency management is the lead agency in charge of responding to extreme heat events, but this can vary at the local level. The lead agency will activate the plan and help coordinate the efforts of organizations involved in the response. (2) Criteria for Activating and Deactivating the Plan: Criteria for activating and deactivating an extreme heat response plan vary and should be based on location-specific factors that affect the relationship between weather and mortality. These factors may include air temperatures, dew point temperatures, wind, daytime highs and overnight lows, and how long the hot weather is expected to last. Some public health departments may have their own thresholds and calculations that include health-related criteria for extreme heat events. Others may use the NWS criteria for activation. (3) Roles and Activities of Agencies and Organization Involved with the Plan: Implementation of a heat response plan requires close collaboration between government agencies (e.g., local public health department, city/county emergency management, NWS, tribal health departments) and nongovernmental organizations, especially organizations that serve the community and vulnerable populations (e.g., the American Red Cross, Meals on Wheels, Salvation Army). Engaging local organizations that work with vulnerable populations in planning and implementing the response plan will make it easier to identify appropriate strategies for the vulnerable populations in the community. Additionally, these organizations are most likely to perform successful outreach and strategies targeted to specific populations. The plan must clearly articulate the roles and responsibilities of all the organizations involved in the plan. (4) Communications Plan: The communications plan needs to articulate communication strategies both between partners involved in the response plan and with the public. There should be frequent communication between the NWS, the lead agency in charge of the response plan and other collaborating agencies and organizations. Additionally, the plan should identify communication strategies for communicating heat-related information before and during an extreme heat event. For example, the lead response agency, in coordination with other partner organizations, should coordinate extreme heat education / awareness campaigns in their communities in the spring before a heat event to help prepare and educate residents of the dangers of extreme heat. In addition to messages to the public, information should be provided to organizations/companies that have at-risk populations (e.g., young children, those with special health care needs or disabilities, outdoor workers, elderly) and may include the following: schools, daycares, landscape/construction businesses, sports teams/camps, and senior living facilities. Messages should include information on what to do (e.g., how to prevent illnesses from extreme heat) (see Appendix A for samples of press releases), symptoms of heat-related illnesses (see Table 3 above), characteristics of persons more vulnerable to extreme heat (see Table 4 above), and where to go for more information. Messages may be transmitted through a variety of media outlets, including television, radio, internet, and distribution of fliers and posters. Messages should be tailored, translated and sensitive to the demographics and population of the area. For example, translations of tip sheets for individuals could be translated into the top five languages spoken in Kansas, in addition to English, which are Spanish, Old German and Vietnamese. The communications plan should be developed before the heat event and updated after the event using lessons learned from implementing the plan. (5) Identification of Vulnerable Persons: Quantifying and mapping vulnerable populations and other risk factors provide important information for planning and implementing appropriate strategies that reach the most vulnerable members of a community. The lead response agency or another entity should create data summaries and/or maps to identify the most vulnerable populations in their community and where the populations reside, so that appropriate preventative actions and strategies for these populations can be determined before an extreme heat event. See the section, "Characteristics that increase the risk of heat-related illnesses," for more information on characteristics to map. There are many resources available to aid local agencies or organizations in identifying vulnerable populations in their communities. Table 6 provides a list of useful web resources. It will be updated as more of them become available. (6) Evaluation: Response plans should be reviewed and evaluated after an extreme heat event. Modifications to the plan should address lessons learned and changes in local conditions. This ensures continuous quality improvement and rectifies any challenges or mistakes observed from implementing the plan during previous events. The agencies and organizations involved in responding to the extreme heat events should partake in the evaluation process. Records on heat-related morbidity and mortality that occurred during the extreme heat event also should be collected, analyzed and used to adjust strategies and/or criteria for activating the heat response plan
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