A new report shows that people living in certain areas of Richmond are at a higher risk for heat related health emergencies. Richmond and Henrico Health Districts policy analyst Peter Braun researched how rising temperatures are hurting certain people living in the city. VPM News Morning Edition host Phil Liles spoke with Braun about his findings and what Richmond can do to help keep people cool during these hot summer months.
The interview below has been edited for length and clarity.
Phil Liles: Peter, can you explain what an urban heat island is?
Peter Braun: Urban heat islands are areas that are built mostly of concrete — paved surfaces, buildings, things like that — that are hotter than suburban areas or forested natural areas. They're hotter because heat-trapping materials like bricks and concrete can heat up in the sun, and areas that have trees and shade can cool off a lot more easily.
This new study that you were part of, talk a little bit about that with me.
In Richmond, we see that a lot of areas that are formerly redlined are significantly hotter than areas that were not redlined. There's been a lot of research in Richmond, into the urban heat island [in the] last few years; the most notable would be a study from the Science Museum of Virginia that put together a community mapping campaign to figure out what areas of Richmond experience the hottest daytime temperatures.
That research started in 2017 and was repeated in 2021. It was pretty consistent across those two years; the structure of the urban heat island — basically the areas that are hottest — are still hottest. That hasn't changed across those years. [What] we wanted to know in this study was: Are these areas that are known to be hotter having [a] real demonstrated impact on public health?
We looked at a dataset of heat-related illnesses from the Virginia Department of Health’s Office of Emergency Medical Services. Anytime that somebody calls 911 for a heat-related emergency, there's a report of that incident that goes into a database. So anytime someone is experiencing heat stroke, heat exhaustion or dehydration and calls 911, an EMS provider or clinician will go out and record demographic information about that emergency.
What we found was that heat-related health emergencies were inequitably distributed across the city of Richmond. If you put all these points on a map and look at the pattern, we can see that some neighborhoods are experiencing a lot more heat-related illnesses and those neighborhoods are also the hottest ones in Richmond.
We also looked at the demographics of the folks most impacted by heat-related illness. We found that residents who were Black, 50 years or older, male, experiencing homelessness, or intoxicated with alcohol or drugs were disproportionately impacted by heat-related illness.
So what has been the plan to help these individuals with these heat-related illnesses?
The goal here is to make sure that people can stay cool. And for most people, it's pretty easy to stay home, stay in an air conditioned space. If you have a car, you know, there's air conditioning there, or you can get to a place that has air conditioning easily.
But if you don't have a car, if you're struggling to pay your energy bills, if you don't have housing, if you're experiencing homelessness, what are your options? This study also looked at the cooling resources in the city of Richmond, particularly cooling stations operated by the city.
In Richmond, there are several cooling stations, including libraries, [and] two cooling stations operated by the Department of Social Services. When temperatures are above 92 degrees, the city also opens an inclement weather shelter. These resources act together as this gap-fill for people who don't have any other way to cool off. And when temperatures are above 80, 85, 90 degrees, that's when we can start to see this spike in heat-related emergency calls coming in.
All of these cooling stations, are they within walking distance for these individuals?
We actually looked at the accessibility of cooling stations across the city. One of those analyses found that there was a high number of these heat-related illnesses occurring within a very short walk of cooling stations, and then there were also large gaps in accessibility. A lot of heat-related illnesses were happening in areas where there was no cooling station nearby.
One resource that I think is really important right now is that GRTC’s bus service has improved greatly in the last couple of years. It is fare-free right now, or zero-fare; you can get on an air-conditioned bus and take it to a cooling station if you have no other way to get around.
But a lot of people don't know that these cooling centers exist, or they just might not have a way to get there. In some neighborhoods, if you have to walk down a street without sidewalks or shade from street trees, or if you have to wait at a bus stop that doesn't have shelter, you're going to be exposed to extreme heat.
This study also looked at the proximity of heat-related illnesses to these bus stop locations. And similar to cooling centers, a lot of these heat-related illnesses are occurring within a short walk of bus stops. That tells me that if we had more bus stops with shelters, we could potentially put this intervention — this shade, this cooling opportunity — right where someone needs it most.
Is there anything else that you would like folks to know about?
I think this study is particularly interesting and impactful because looking at heat-related illnesses and EMS calls humanizes this environmental or climate issue. A lot of times, when we're looking at air temperature or land surface temperature, it's sort of this academic exercise. But when we look at heat-related illnesses, we see that climate change — and the way we build our cities and our communities — really is impacting people's health today. There is a real public health impact of extreme heat in our community.
Peter, thank you so much for coming in today and speaking with me.
Yeah, absolutely.
