It’s warming up. Keep cool and do a survey

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We’re not averse to telling tourists tall tales about the many dangers of life in Far North Queensland, like crocs, taipans, and stingers.

But one of Queensland’s biggest dangers rarely gets a mention.

Extreme heat kills about 100 Queenslanders a year, and more Australians than any other natural disaster.

At Queensland’s Griffith University, Shannon Rutherford and her team of researchers want to reduce the number of deaths, and they need your help.

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Associate Professor Rutherford, from Griffith’s School of Medicine and Dentistry, says people over 75 are needed for a confidential survey to help develop a new early warning system for extreme heat events.

“Heat is an issue right now, and it will become more of an issue in the future.

“We need to be finding ways of identifying when those people might be at risk of getting heat-related illnesses like cramps, exhaustion and heat stroke.”

Professor Rutherford said heat warnings delivered through media usually refer to ambient temperature, but there are other risk factors for people staying indoors.

“The indoor environment can be quite different because people keep their houses closed, they might not be wearing appropriate clothing.

“They may not be drinking enough water, maybe they can’t afford to turn their air conditioning on.

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Older people are more vulnerable to heat for several reasons, including reduced ability to sweat, which lowers the body’s natural ability to cool.

Mobility issues, socio-economic factors, and medical conditions associated with ageing can also increase vulnerability to heat.

Coastal regions of the Far North don’t generally reach the scorching temperatures of inland areas, but Professor Rutherford says humidity can also be dangerous.

“The primary way we remove heat from our body is through sweat.

“Someone exposed to very humid conditions, their sweat can’t evaporate because you’ve got that high moisture in the air.”

Professor Rutherford said the confidential survey will take about 30 minutes, it’s paper-based, and the findings will help develop a new early warning system.

“We want to identify for them what the better ways of cooling might be.

“Your risk is specific to you and your house. Your ability to cool is dependent on the resources you have access to.

“We want to try to individualise the early warning strategies that we might see in the community, looking at them at the household level.”

People over 75 who live in Queensland can take part in the survey between now and November 15, and go in to a draw to win $100 retail vouchers.

You don’t need to be a digital technology user. Call the research team on (07) 5552 7903, email [email protected] or visit the survey website