This week on “An Arm and a Leg,” a front-line physician wonders if the health care industry’s drive for “efficiency” has robbed the system of surge capacity, leaving the nation underprepared to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Category: natural disasters
In Tornado Alley, Storms Are Even More Dangerous For People With Disabilities
As climate change bears down, a haphazard web of weather safeguards is a particular blow to the disabled. In Oklahoma, no state laws require homeowners or landlords to install storm shelters. If a community wants to open a storm shelter for the public, that’s up to local officials, But there’s no database that Oklahomans can consult showing where public or wheelchair-accessible shelters are located.
Coping With (Power) Loss: California’s Hospitals, Clinics, Patients Face New Reality
How are critical medical services interrupted by the loss of power and what can hospitals and clinics do to minimize the impact? This Q&A will give you some answers.
Nursing Home Safety Violations Put Residents At Risk, Report Finds
A federal audit of 19 California nursing homes released today found hundreds of violations of safety and emergency standards, putting vulnerable nursing home residents at increased risk of injury or death during a wildfire or other disaster.
California Fires Illuminate Trauma And Resilience
The chaos and evacuations prompted by wind-fueled wildfire in Sonoma County pose special challenges for people in need of ongoing medical treatment. Volunteer medical personnel have stepped up to provide care and a sense of stability.
California Hospitals And Nursing Homes Brace For Wildfire Blackouts
Facing billions of dollars in legal claims for the role its equipment has played in a spate of deadly wildfires, California utility giant Pacific Gas & Electric plans to step up efforts to cut power to broad regions of the state during high-risk weather conditions. The potential for prolonged blackouts has prompted disaster preparations by hospitals, nursing homes and home care providers.
The New West: Smoke In The Sky, A Purifier At Home
Amid forecasts for increasingly unhealthy air due to wildfire smoke, residents in Western states are snatching up home air purifiers. With good reason.
The New West: Smoke In The Sky, A Purifier At Home
Amid forecasts for increasingly unhealthy air due to wildfire smoke, residents in Western states are snatching up home air purifiers. With good reason.
Modern Wildfires Pose New Health Risks For Firefighters
Studies long have linked urban firefighters’ on-the-job exposure to toxins with an increased risk of cancer. More recently, as urban-style development reaches into once remote stretches of California’s mountains and forests, wildfire crews are exposed to fuels and carcinogens more typical of urban fires. We talk with Tony Stefani of the San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation about the health risks that poses for firefighters.
Hurricane Maria’s Legacy: Thousands Of Puerto Rican Students Show PTSD Symptoms
A survey of more than 96,000 students finds that 7.2% reported “clinically significant” symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a study in JAMA Network Open.
