STAYING COOL INSIDE

In homes without air conditioning, heat builds indoors over the course of a few days. It may stay hotter inside than outside overnight. Without air conditioning, the longer the heat lasts, the more dangerous it becomes.

Take the following steps to keep yourself and members of your household safe:

·   If you have air conditioning, turn it on. It does not need to be going full strength to help you stay safe

·   If you have air conditioning, and vulnerable friends and family do not, bring them to your home

·   If you do not have air conditioning, move to your pre-identified alternate location with air conditioning or cooler spaces

·   Sleep in the coolest part of the residence. Outdoor temperatures are usually lower than indoor temperatures overnight, so consider sleeping outside if you can safely do so

·   Sleep with a wet sheet or in a wet shirt

·   Take cool baths or showers to draw heat from your body

·   Drink plenty of water, regardless of whether you feel thirsty. Be aware that sugary or alcoholic drinks cause dehydration

·   If you are taking medication or have a health condition, ask your doctor or pharmacist if it increases your health risk in the heat and follow their recommendation

·   If your doctor limits the amount you drink, or has you on water pills, ask how much you should drink while the weather is h

 

What to do in a heat wave sources ot help

 Summer is here and living is easy, except if you experience a Heatwave. My province is launching the BC Heat Alert and Response System (BC HARS) to help ensure people, First Nations communities and local governments have the tools they need to stay safe during heat events. I am sure that every jurisdiction has similar resources. Please check your area by doing a google search for ""

Under BC HARS, the Province is prepared to issue a Broadcast Intrusive alert for extreme heat emergencies. The province is also bringing in additional measures to bolster B.C.’s ambulance system to better respond to a significant increase in 911 calls during a heat emergency. I am sure that every jurisdiction has similar warning systems in place. To check what resources you have in your are do a Google search "heat alert warning resources"

BC HARS includes two categories of heat events: heat warnings and extreme heat emergencies. In the event of a heat warning or extreme heat emergency, the provincial government and local authorities will take appropriate actions based on their individual heat plans and processes.

For extreme heat emergencies, the province is prepared to issue alerts through the national public alerting system, Alert Ready, which is already used to issue Amber alerts and tsunami, wildfire and flood warnings.

The province has also created a new Extreme Heat Preparedness Guide (click on the link to go to the site and then you can download the guide) targeted at helping people prepare their residences for extreme heat and that provides advice about how to stay safe when temperatures rise. The guide is available in French, Punjabi, traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese and was created in partnership with the BC Centre for Disease Control.

Actions people can take to keep themselves and others safer during a heat event include identifying cool zones inside and outside their homes (community centres, libraries etc.), taking cool baths or showers, drinking plenty of water and checking in with vulnerable neighbours.

Heat illnesses include heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat fainting, heat edema (swelling of hands, feet and ankles), heat rash and heat cramps (muscle cramps). Watch for symptoms of heat illness, including dizziness or fainting, nausea or vomiting, confusion, headache, rapid breathing and heartbeat, extreme thirst, and decreased urination with unusually dark yellow urine. If someone experiences any of these symptoms during extreme heat, they should immediately move to a cool place, start cooling down and drink liquids. 

Heat Warning	Daytime and overnight temperatures are higher than seasonal norms and holding steady.	Take the usual steps to stay cool.
Extreme Heat Emergency	Daytime and overnight temperatures are higher than seasonal norms and getting hotter every day.	Activate your emergency plan.

You can check for heat warnings or emergencies by following the trusted sources below:

Compromise is alright

 You can't force change on people. Lasting change is a series of compromises. And compromise is alright, as long your values don't change. Jane Goodall

Life is full of compromises and change. Every day as we grew up, we learned the fine art of compromise. We like to get our own way and do our own thing, but we live in a society that has norms, rules, and laws, that we follow. Humans are by nature social creatures; we need to be around others.

Covid isolation was a hardship for many of us. We figured out how to use technology to communicate with others, but it was never the same as being in the same room. Jane Goodall is right to say compromise is alright and we need compromise to exist and to understand our place in our society. Change is not good or bad, but it is constant. Our understanding of change, seeing it as good or bad, I believe, depends on how fast the change happens and how it affects our understanding of how the change affects those things that we value.

There is an old story of a dog that fell down a very old and dried out well and the farmer could not get the animal out as it appeared to be injured. The farmer saw the well as a danger to the young children on the farm and even though he hated the thought of losing the dog, the farmer decided to fill the well in with dirt. So, the farmer and his family started to fill the well. It took a long time, and they did not pay much attention as they threw the dirt in as they were all sad about the dog. When the well was about three-quarters full, one of the children noticed that the dog was at the top of the pile of dirt. As the farmer and the children threw the dirt in the dog, dug himself out and just kept climbing up. The farmer and his children were happy, and the dog was rescued. Over time change can bury us, or we can figure out a way to cope and survive the change.

When confronted with change around us, we change, and when we change, our values change. The question we face does our values reflect who we are and what we believe, not whether or not our values change. 

Leading causes of death during Covid

 I read an interesting article about the leading Causes of Death in the US During the COVID-19 Pandemic, from March 2020 to October 2021. It was written by Meredith S. Shiels, PhD, MHS1; Anika T. Haque, MPH1; Amy Berrington de González, PhD1; et al Neal D. Freedman, PhD, MPH1 and published online by Jama Internal Medicine online July 5, 2022. Here are some excerpts from the article.

In 2020, heart disease and cancer were the leading causes of death in the US, accounting for 1.29 million deaths, followed by COVID-19, accounting for 350 000 deaths.1-3 The pandemic may also have indirectly led to increases in other causes of death, including heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer disease, and unintentional injuries.2,4 We examined the leading causes of death in the US, overall and in various age groups, from March 2020 to October 2021.

Methods

We obtained final national death certificate data for 2020 and provisional data for 2021 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (accessed May 5, 20225). We excluded data more recent than October 2021 because they were incomplete. We determined the 5 leading causes of death by year and age group, and compared the period March to December 2020 with the period January to October 2021. Because the data are publicly available, the study did not require institutional review board review.

Results

From March 2020 to October 2021, heart disease (20.1%), cancer (17.5%), COVID-19 (12.2%), accidents (6.2%), and stroke (4.7%) were the most common causes of death in the US. There were 2.875 million deaths in March to December 2020 and 2.855 million deaths in January to October 2021; the 5 leading causes of death were the same in each year. Among those older than 1 year, the number of deaths increased across age groups.

Deaths from cancer, heart disease, and COVID-19 accounted for the largest number of deaths in every group aged 55 years and older. The leading 3 causes of death in these age groups were the same in 2020 and 2021. Among people aged 85 years and older, COVID-19 was ranked as the second leading cause of death in 2020 (110 000 deaths, 12.8% of deaths), and third in 2021 (69 000, 8.9% of deaths). Among those aged 45 to 54 years, COVID-19 was the fourth leading cause of death in 2020 (17 000 deaths, 10.4% of deaths), following heart disease, cancer, and accidents; in 2021, however, it was the leading cause of death (30 000 deaths, 16.8% of deaths).

In both time periods, accidents accounted for the largest number of deaths in every age group 1 to 44 years. Compared with 2020, COVID-19 increased from the fifth (6100 deaths) to the second leading cause of death (13 000 deaths) among those aged 35 to 44 years in 2021, became the fourth leading cause of death in 2021 among those aged 25 to 34 years (5000 deaths), and those aged 15 to 24 years (1100 deaths).

Discussion

From March 2020 to October 2021, COVID-19 accounted for 1 in 8 deaths in the US and was a top 5 cause of death in every age group aged 15 years and older. Cancer and heart disease deaths exceeded COVID-19 deaths overall and in most age groups, whereas accidents were the leading cause of death among those aged 1 to 44 years. Compared with the 2020 time period, deaths from COVID-19 in the 2021 time period decreased in ranking among those aged 85 years or older but increased in ranking among those aged 15 to 54 years, and became the leading cause of death among those aged 45 to 54 years.

The pandemic also has had indirect effects on other causes of death in the US. From 2019 to 2020, death rates increased for heart disease, accidents, stroke, Alzheimer disease, and diabetes. Potential explanations are fear of accessing health care or misattribution of COVID-19 deaths to other causes. Accidental deaths (including drug overdoses and unintentional alcohol poisoning), assault, and suicide remain major causes of death in the US, particularly in younger age groups; the pandemic may have contributed to some of these deaths.