The Extreme Heat and Older Persons (Ethos) project - What we have learned so far

The Extreme Heat and Older Persons (Ethos) project - What we have learned so far - A/Prof. Shannon Rutherford

The Ethos (extreme heat and older persons) project has developed and evaluated an individualised Heat-Health Early Warning System for older adults (≥65 years). The co-designed system incorporates elements of real-time temperature and humidity monitoring, prediction of core-temperature change, real-time alerting and tailored cooling. This presentation will share insights from the in-home testing and discuss how individualised early warning systems can be useful in the face of climate change, especially for groups like older people who do not perceive themselves to be at risk of heat stress. It will also share our learnings about the co-design and transdisciplinary team processes employed throughout the project.

A/Prof Rutherford has a background in environmental science and her career has focused on researching the links between environmental change and human health, and building capacity to understand and respond to environmental change at local, national, and global levels. Shannon has been involved in researching public health problems internationally on a range of topics including pandemic risk communication, climate change and mosquito-borne diseases, coastal salinity and hypertension, and disasters and climate change governance.