Abstract
Local agencies in New York State (NYS) set up cooling centers to provide relief from summer-time heat especially for people with limited access to air-conditioning. We aimed to determine cooling center locations in NYS, and explore county agencies’ involvement in organizing and promoting utilization of cooling centers. We conducted a survey among county health and emergency preparedness offices in NYS (excluding NYC) and explored official county websites. We identified 377 cooling centers, mostly in metropolitan areas of NYS. Although 47 % of counties listed locations online, only 29 % reported locations via survey. Radio (90 %) and internet (84 %) were popular for information dissemination. Air-conditioning was available at all indoor cooling center facilities. Cooling centers in 13 % of the counties were accessible by either public transportation or shuttles arranged by the facility. About 38 % counties do not consider cooling centers important in their region or promote informal cooling centers. More than a third of New York counties had neither cooling centers nor plans to establish a cooling center as extreme heat was not perceived as a threat in their region.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
National Weather Service. (2015). Natural Hazard Statistics. 2013. January 9, 2015. http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/hazstats.shtml.
National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2015). 2014 Heat Related Fatalities. 2015. January 9, 2015. http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/hazstats/heat14.pdf.
Anderson, B. G., & Bell, M. L. (2011). Heat waves in the United States: Mortality risk during heat waves and effect modification by heat wave characteristics in 43 US communities. Environmental Health Perspectives, 119(2), 210–218.
Semenza, J. C., Rubin, C. H., Falter, K. H., Selanikio, J. D., Flanders, W. D., Howe, H. L., et al. (1996). Heat-related deaths during the July 1995 heat wave in Chicago. New England Journal of Medicine, 335(2), 84–90.
Semenza, J. C., McCullough, J. E., Flanders, W. D., McGeehin, M. A., & Lumpkin, J. R. (1999). Excess hospital admissions during the July 1995 heat wave in Chicago. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 16(4), 269–277.
Kilbourne, E. M., Choi, K., Jones, T. S., & Thacker, S. B. (1982). Risk factors for heatstroke. A case-control study. JAMA, 247(24), 3332–3336.
O’Neill, M. S., Zanobetti, A., & Schwartz, J. (2005). Disparities by race in heat-related mortality in four US cities: The role of air conditioning prevalence. Journal of Urban Health, 82(2), 191–197.
Toronto Public Health. Protecting vulnerable people from health impacts of extreme heat, 2011. (2011). Toronto Ontario Toronto Public Health http://www1.toronto.ca/staticfiles/city_of_toronto/toronto_public_health/healthy_environment/heat_alert/files/pdf/backgroundfile-39469.pdf.
New York State department of health. (2016). Cooling centers. 2016. June 14, 2016. http://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/weather/cooling/.
Centers for disease control and prevention. extreme heat: A prevention guide to promote your personal health and safety. (2009). Atlanta, GA. 10-30-2012. http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/extremeheat/heat_guide.asp.
Lane, K., Wheeler, K., Charles-Guzman, K., Ahmed, M., Blum, M., Gregory, K., et al. (2014). Extreme heat awareness and protective behaviors in New York City. J Urban Health, 91(3), 403–414.
Kalkstein, A. J., & Sheridan, S. C. (2007). The social impacts of the heat-health watch/warning system in Phoenix, Arizona: Assessing the perceived risk and response of the public. International Journal of Biometeorology, 52(1), 43–55.
National oceanic and atmospheric administration, national weather service. NWS Heat Index. 2015. http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/heat/heat_index.shtml.
Lin, S., Hsu, W. H., Van Zutphen, A. R., Saha, S., Luber, G., & Hwang, S. A. (2012). Excessive heat and respiratory hospitalizations in New York State: Estimating current and future public health burden related to climate change. Environmental Health Perspectives, 120(11), 1571–1577.
Fletcher, B. A., Lin, S., Fitzgerald, E. F., & Hwang, S. A. (2012). Association of summer temperatures with hospital admissions for renal diseases in New York State: A case-crossover study. American Journal of Epidemiology, 175(9), 907–916.
Van Zutphen, A. R., Lin, S., Fletcher, B. A., & Hwang, S. A. (2012). A population-based case-control study of extreme summer temperature and birth defects. Environmental Health Perspectives, 120(10), 1443–1449.
Lin, S., Luo, M., Walker, R. J., Liu, X., Hwang, S. A., & Chinery, R. (2009). Extreme high temperatures and hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Epidemiology, 20(5), 738–746.
White-Newsome, J. L., Sanchez, B. N., Jolliet, O., Zhang, Z., Parker, E. A., Dvonch, J. T., et al. (2012). Climate change and health: Indoor heat exposure in vulnerable populations. Environmental Research, 112, 20–27. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2011.10.008.
Sampson, N. R., Gronlund, C. J., Buxton, M. A., Catalano, L., White-Newsome, J. L., Conlon, K. C., et al. (2013). Staying cool in a changing climate: Reaching vulnerable populations during heat events. Global Environmental Change - Human and Policy Dimensions, 23(2), 475–484.
Kisner, C., Mulder, K., & Van Gessel B. (2015). Assessing heat vulnerability and access to cooling centers in Detroit, Michigan. University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning. 2012. Detroit, Michigan, USA, University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning. October 15, 2015. http://graham.umich.edu/media/files/ClimateChateActionDetroit.pdf.
U.S.Department of health and human services (HHS), Centers for disease control and prevention. (2015). Crisis & emergency risk communication (cerc) by leaders for leaders. 2015. October 15, 2015.
Chestnut, L. G., Brefflen, W. S., Smith, J. B., & Kalkstein, L. S. (1998). Analysis of differences in hot-weather-related mortality across 44 US metropolitan areas. Environmental Science and Policy, 1(1), 59–70.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the following agencies and individuals for their valuable assistance with the project: State of New York’s Local Health Departments and Regional Environmental Health Offices; NY State and County Offices of Emergency Management; NYS Association of County Health Officials; NYS DOH Office of Health Emergency Preparedness; and NYS DOH Outreach and Education Group. Work on this project was supported in part by grants from the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nayak, S.G., Lin, S., Sheridan, S. et al. Surveying Local Health Departments and County Emergency Management Offices on Cooling Centers as a Heat Adaptation Resource in New York State. J Community Health 42, 43–50 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-016-0224-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-016-0224-4