Department of Health

Message from the Chief Health Officer, Dr Rosemary Lester

Summer 2012-2013 has seen record high temperatures during the day and high overnight temperatures resulting in heat health alerts being issued in Victoria as early as November 2012. A total of eight alerts were issued in Victoria from the beginning of the monitoring period (November 2012 to end of March 2013). In the face of an uncertain climatic future and increasingly extreme weather conditions, planning is extremely important to protect the health and wellbeing of Victorians. The department has several tools to assist in the planning process. The Heatwave Planning Guide – Development of heatwave plans in local council in Victoria and the Heatwave plan review tool are readily available on the Department’s website. The Environmental Health program can also be contacted on 1300 761 874 to discuss the planning process.

Heat Health Alerts

Heat health alerts notify relevant local council departmental program areas, hospitals, and health and community service providers of forecast heatwave conditions that are likely to impact on human health. Recipients are advised to monitor local conditions and take action in accordance with their own heatwave plans, service continuity plans and occupational health and safety plans. It is important to note that once an alert is issued and subsequent weather monitoring indicates that daily average temperatures are no longer predicted to reach/exceed the heat health temperature threshold an email will not be sent out advising of the change in weather.

Alerts issued in 2011 – 2012

Two heat health alerts were issued during the 2011-2012 summer period based on the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) forecasts, as detailed in the table 1 below. Table 1: 2011-2012 Heat Health Alerts

Date issued Event date Weather forecast district(s) notified & temperature threshold

Average recorded temperature reached (as provided by the BoM)

30/12/2011 02/01/2012 Central (30oC) North Central (30oC) Wimmera (32oC)

31.7 Melbourne 28.4 Kilmore Gap 30.2 Horsham

24/02/2012 25/02/2012 Central (30oC) South West (30oC)

30.9 Melbourne 31.1 Hamilton

Heatwave Newsletter

June 2013

Page 2 Department of Health

Alerts issued in 2012 - 2013

Eight heat health alerts were issued during the 2012-2013 summer period based on BoM forecasts, as detailed in table 2 below. Table 2: 2012-2013 Heat Health Alerts

Date issued Event date Weather forecast district(s) notified & temperature threshold

Average recorded temperature reached (as provided by the BoM)

28/11/2012 29/11/2012 Central (30oC) North Central (30oC) Northern Country (32oC)

31.3 Melbourne 28.8 Kilmore Gap 32.3 Shepparton

20/12/2012 23/12/2012 North Central (30oC) 28.4 Kilmore Gap

31/12/2012 03/01/2013 South West (30oC) 29 Hamilton

04/01/2013 04/01/2013

Central (30oC) North Central (30oC) West & South Gippsland (30oC) North East (32oC) Northern Country (32oC)

29.7 Melbourne 26.5 Kilmore Gap 32.3 East Sale 30.23 Albury 32.9 Shepparton

03/01/2013 07/01/2013 North Central (30oC) Mallee (34oC)

28.0 Kilmore Gap 34.7 Mildura

14/01/2013 17/01/2013

Central (30oC) North Central (30oC) North East (32oC) Northern County (32oC) Mallee (34oC)

31.9 Melbourne 30.5 Kilmore Gap 31.1 Albury 31.7 Shepparton 36.3 Mildura

23/01/2013 24/01/2013 Central (30oC) North Central (30oC)

28.6 Melbourne 25.1 Kilmore Gap

08/03/2013 11/03 - 13/03/2013

Central (30oC) for the 11th-13th

South West (30oC) for the 12th

Melbourne 29.7 (11th), 31.3 (12th), 21.7 (13th) Hamilton 27.1

Staying healthy in the heat communication resources and publications

Staying healthy in the heat communication resources and publications can be found on the Department’s website at: http://www.health.vic.gov.au/environment/heatwaves.htm

The Heatwave plan review tool to assist and support local councils during the review process for their heatwave plans can be found at: http://www.health.vic.gov.au/environment/heatwaves-planning.htm

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Changes in issuing heat health alerts

You may have noticed a change in the way we issued heat health alerts this year. Previous alerts were issued from the State Emergency Management Centre (SEMC) inbox, however, this season the alerts were issued from the Chief Health Officer’s (CHO) inbox. The CHO is responsible for approving and issuing heat health alerts. The alerts are issued to key stakeholders including the State Emergency Management Centre and State Health Command for further distribution.

Better Health Channel mobile application version 2

The latest update to the Better Health Channel mobile application (app) aims to help all Victorians remain as healthy as they can be via a range of new features including environmental health alerts and notifications.

The app delivers the full complement of health information from the Better Health Channel website including: • Customised health alerts – timely and customisable information about heat , UV, smog

and pollen to better manage your health and wellbeing. • Health conditions and healthy living – extensive information on a range of health

conditions, food and nutrition, physical activity, healthy weight, health checks, immunisation and reducing alcohol and tobacco consumption

• Healthy recipes and nutrition – includes hundreds of healthy recipes for a range of dietary requirements

and lifestyle needs (e.g. low salt and sugar). You can save your favourites, and create a shopping list for when you’re next at the store.

• Relationships and family – covers an extensive range of topics from pregnancy to parenting, caring for

others, and coping with relationship stress. • Find a health service in Victoria – suburb and postcode discovery and detailed map directions to health

service providers such as doctors, dentists and pharmacists. • Treatments and first aid – information on a wide range of tests, treatments and common injuries - from

bites and burns to heat stroke and hypothermia. • Urgent medical help and advice – including contact information for Nurse-On-Call, Kids Helpline, Poisons

Information, Lifeline and more. To download the app or find out more about it (including a demo video), visit www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/app.

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A message from the Bureau of Meteorology

Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) data for Victoria show that daytime maximum temperatures from December 2012 through March 2013 were generally much warmer than those usually experienced. For the first three months of 2013, average maximum temperatures for a large part of Victoria were the highest on record. March in particular saw a record breaking run of maximum temperatures for Melbourne, which experienced nine consecutive days above 30°C, the most for the city at any time of the year (>150 years of record). Minimum temperatures for the period were close to or above those usually experienced.

Further information of extreme heat for 2012 -2013 can be found in the following BoM publications: Special Climate Statement 43 – Extreme heat in January 2013 http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/statements/scs43e.pdf Special Climate Statement 41 – Extreme November heat in eastern Australia http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/statements/scs41.pdf

A message from Ambulance Victoria

Heat Health Alerts (HHA) are issued by the Department of Health based on Bureau of Meteorology forecasts and are based on daily forecast maximum and overnight forecast minimum in each of the weather districts. When a HHA is issued for consecutive days, we activate the Ambulance Victoria Emergency Response Plan which allows us to roster on extra paramedics to triage less serious Triple Zero calls that don’t require an ambulance. We also send out information about the risks and warnings through both traditional and social media. Heat stress or heat stroke are also significant risks, with young children and those aged over 65 at greatest risk. Health risks increase when there is a run of hot days and warm nights as houses don’t cool down. The heatwave which led up to Black Saturday in 2009 resulted in an extra 374 deaths being reported to the Coroners Court of Victoria during the seven days. We saw a 300 per cent increase in people who suffered a sudden death cardiac arrest in that time.

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During the summer of 2012/13 Ambulance Victoria received periodic advice from the Bureau of Meteorology and the Department of Health regarding upcoming days of expected high temperatures. Where these temperatures met/exceeded the triggers for the Ambulance Victoria Heatwave Plan, initiatives were instigated to mitigate any surge in caseload. AV was able to cope well with demand from increased temperatures during the 2012/13 summer period. This preplanning has demonstrated a marked improvement in AV’s capacity to meet excess demand, and demand on AV’s services was also impacted positively.

A message from Yarra Ranges Council

In the 2012/13 summer, Yarra Ranges Council added heat health alerts to its emergency management (EM) warning system. The EM Warning system has been set up to ensure all types of emergency warnings such as weather events, flood, fire risk ratings etc )are received from the relevant agencies to a dedicated email address. From there the information is managed at a central point and then distributed via email to the right people in the organisation. This email address is set up with an automated forwarding rule (and also filters out any erroneous messages) to eliminate the need for a person to be available to forward on the messages. The messages are forwarded to both internal and external stakeholders to ensure appropriate action is taken. Internally, heat heath alerts activate operational plans which dictate what work can and cannot be undertaken on these days. In the 2012/13 season most of the heat health alerts were issued on severe and above fire danger rating matrix days which required the EM warning system to be activated. The early heat health alerts issued by the Department have been critical in ensuring we could get the messages out quickly to staff to allow more time for operational plans to be put in place. The automated emailing system has prevented the past issues with staff being on leave or having left the organisation and has saved time and recourses for the supervisors having to send it individually to their staff. For the public there is a link on our web site which gives the public information on dealing with heatwave conditions. Contact Jessica Tindal or Peter Wright at Yarra Ranges Council for more information 1300 368 333.

Reviewing heat wave plans for 2013-2014

Effective planning for heat involves numerous local council departments and external organisations. It is important to begin reviewing plans early and to work in a collaborative approach with colleagues to achieve the best results for vulnerable populations and the wider community. Engaging with external organisations will assist in clarifying and sharing responsibilities and spreading key health messages to ultimately reduce the impacts of heat.

Tip: Heat Health Alert

As personnel within an organisation can change, a generic email address for recipients of alerts is preferred rather than individual addresses. This will ensure prompt and timely delivery of Heat Health Alerts in the future. If you have a generic email address please contact Environmental Health on 1300 761 874 or email us on Environmental.HealthUnit@health.vic.gov.au to enable us to update your details.

Environmental Health can be contacted on 1300 761 874.

Environmental Health would like to thank Ambulance Victoria, the Bureau of Meteorology and Yarra Ranges Shire Council for their contribution to this newsletter.