UNMC public health experts working to cool down hottest parts of Omaha

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Last summer, the University of Nebraska Medicine hosted a heat-mapping study as part of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Integrated Heat Health Information System.

The goal of the study is to map the hottest parts of the city and identify heat inequities that Omaha community members may live in.

Just shy of a year after 60 volunteers and UNMC public health experts took to the streets to physically take temperatures across the city, results are getting closer to becoming solutions.

“In areas that are more industrialized, more asphalt more concrete, some of those areas were almost 10 degrees warmer than were covered with trees and vegetation,” says Jesse Bell, the Claire M. Hubbard Professor of Water, Climate and Health professor at UNMC’s College of Public Health.

In Omaha, that means the downtown part of the city could be up to 10 degrees warmer than other parts of the city.

Historically, heat islands in cities also include poorer and underserved communities, like Omaha’s redlined areas.

But Bell says just finding those hot spots isn’t where the study ends.

“We’ve identified areas in the city that are more vulnerable based on at-risk populations and urban conditions that potentially put people more at risk, and now we’ve identified that we can overlay the temperature information that we’ve received to basically see, are the places that are hottest also the places where we have the most at risk populations?”

Bell says they’re currently in that analysis process right now, meaning soon, the data gathered by Bell and his team means it can be used to identify where mitigation efforts should go - things like cooling centers, shaded bus stops, or where more trees should be planted.

“We’re not just doing science for science’s sake, this is actually making sure it gets to the people and decision makers that can make a change within our communities,” Bell adds.

That change is needed, he says, to help the vast number of people who are most at risk when it comes to heat-related illness.

“We’ve identified through research and understanding of who goes to the hospital for when and for what, there are certain populations that are more at risk, especially outdoor workers, the elderly, low-income populations, people of color, communities of color and there’s a variety of different reasons for that, that includes, pre-existing health conditions, where they live, lack of access to care. . .”

When it comes to extreme and excessive heat, Bell says it likely kills more Americans than any other weather-related event, and that many of those deaths can be preventable.

Now, Bell says groups are forming to help implement solutions. The City of Omaha, Lincoln, local public health departments, the National Weather Service, non-profits, and more meet regularly to discuss solutions and help build a better, healthier community.

“If we’re not doing the things that are necessary to make sure that we have stronger more protected communities, the potential for more negative health outcomes only increases over time,” he stresses.

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