There is a heat dome over the southern part of the US and many southern cities are sweltering, with some even experiencing 110 degree weather for nearly 3 weeks. And the Canadian fires are still burning and sending smoke across the US, significantly worsening air quality. Now, normally we would not think about extreme weather and the impact it might have on cancer outcomes or we might simply assume weather is out of our control and so we give it no thought. During the ACS Quality and Safety Conference (QSC) we were presented a different story about why we should not only understand the impact of extreme weather on cancer care and outcomes, but also work on becoming better prepared for such extreme weather events, which are becoming more frequent.
At this years’ ACS QSC Leticia Nogueira, PhD, MPH; Hiram Gay, MD; and John Balbus, MD, MPH, presented their personal experiences and professional perspectives on how extreme weather events impact hospitals, clinics, and professionals in unpredictable ways that can lead to disrupted cancer care and diminished outcomes.
With extreme weather events on the rise, the QSC presenters made the case that now is the right time for us to start investing in institutional resilience and emergency preparedness so we can mitigate the impact that weather disasters have on vulnerable people, especially cancer patients.
One example reported in the literature describes how hurricanes disrupted access to radiation treatments and this was associated with an increased risk of death among non-small cell lung cancer patients. Another example reported worse survival among individuals who were impacted by a wildfire within 6 months of discharge from the hospital following lung cancer surgery.
With extreme weather events on the rise, they made the case that now is the right time for us to start investing in institutional resilience and emergency preparedness so we can mitigate the impact that weather disasters have on vulnerable people, especially cancer patients.
Having heard the stories and seen the data, we would agree that now is a good time for us to take the first step by having conversations and learning more about this topic. If you are interested, we suggest reading Climate Change and Cancer published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. From there we will have to start learning from each other how to go forward, so stay tuned.
