Climate change is pushing hospitals to tipping point
When an unprecedented heat wave baked the Pacific Northwest last July, emergency rooms sought any way possible to lower the core body temperatures of patients coming in droves with heat-related ailments. Many emergency departments in the region began putting people in body bags filled with ice to help safely adjust their temperatures. But despite their lifesaving efforts, around 1,000 excess deaths occurred from the brutal heat.
Kristie Ebi, Professor of Global Health and of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at UW, is quoted.