By Olivia Lewis via
According to researchers studying forest fire patterns across the state, about 20 % of all healthcare systems in California are located in forest fire -risk areas.
In a three -part research series, data scientists have detailed health reservations about healthcare to better help medically weak people during wildfire. With the peak in the end of the summer and early fall, the peak, which was once a “fire season”, is now a year -long forest fire in many parts of the United States, including California.
That fire is very close to the weak people in the medical settings. The results, which are currently under peer review, are described in a dissertation titled “California, 2001-2023 patients with health care facilities proximity to forest fire.” The article was written directly by Vice President of Research and Ineligue Andrew Schword, as well as Kalib Dresser, Neil Singh Bedi, Eric Surgeonko, and Sachit Bilsari.
California Department of Health Care and Information and Local Analysis with the annual data from the Cal-Fire and Resource Assessment Program, researchers have provided details of the number of beds and severe care facilities at five miles of the forest fire zone.
The dissertation states, “The distance from the health care facilities of patients in California to the nearby forest fire is decreasing on average 628 feet per year, while a nearby approach is increasing.”
From 2001 to 2023, a research timeline was reviewed, which gave high changes of the year, and found that patients’ health care facilities in California have been significantly exposed to forest fires and long -term care facilities, especially nursing, are especially risky.
The co -author of the article, Direct Relief Andrew Schworider, said he hoped the data and analysis would be used for future policy implications so that he would be used for the better help of people under medically disaster and the implications of public health.
These health care facilities are not guided by the site selection process and the proximity of the previous forest fire to facilitate health care, Srurder said.
“Tire One Hospitals have a full combination of requirements, and when you go down on the size and centrality scale of this facility, these requirements decrease and decrease,” he said. “But at the same time, they also fire as much as possible, and the proportional patients who are currently offered in these facilities are also medically more risky.”
Schruider and others worked on two other recent documents related to forest fire and precision, one of which details the medical implications of the state’s power outage on the underlying population. Residents who rely on the power -dependent devices to keep the drug refrigerated medicines or power machines, which provide oxygen therapy, increases the risk of loss during hours and day long power outages.
A third dissertation, which will be expected later this year, has analyzed the survey of clinically weak people in Mariposa County, California, about their communication habits during forest fire.
The idea of this article came from the former Public Health Director of Mariposa County, Srurder said. They questioned the safety of clinically weak residents during the forest fire.
“There is a lot of evidence that when people take steps to protect their health, people are hesitant,” said Schwider.
Although the Department of Health provides information on protective guidance during a forest fire, researchers found that many people rely on the mouth of the people whom they know for information and will hear direct calls on their phone from the health department to find out whether to evacuate or not. Schwidr said the data has revealed that residents are unlikely to change their behavior after just watching information on social media.
“If you face malfunction problems or other medical risks, it can be extremely reluctant to evacuate,” he said.
