WBUR May 01, 2019 Martha Bebinger
It's a gray and chilly April afternoon when Michael Howard arrives for a checkup with his pulmonologist. But Howard is worried about what’s coming: the heat and humidity of a Boston summer.
"I lived in Florida for 14 years and I moved back because the humidity was just too much,†Howard says to physician Mary Rice, as he settles into an exam room chair at the Beth Israel Deaconess HealthCare clinic in Chelsea.
Howard, who is 57, has COPD, a progressive lung disease that can be exacerbated by heat and humidity. Even on this day, in a comfortable, climate-controlled room, his oxygen levels worry Rice. Howard agrees to try using portable oxygen. He and Rice take a slow walk around the clinic while Rice adjusts the levels.
Howard is resigned to wearing the clear plastic tubes looped over his ears and inserted in his nostrils. He assures Rice he has an air conditioner and will stay inside on really hot days. The doctor and patient agree that Howard should walk in the evenings to be sure that he gets exercise without overheating.
Then Howard turns to Rice with a question she didn't encounter in medical school: "Can I ask you, last summer, why was it so hot?"
Rice, who studies air pollution, is ready.
"The overall trend of the hotter summers that we’re seeing [is] due to climate change," Rice says, "and with the overall upward trend, we've got the consequences of climate change."
For Rice, connecting those consequences — heatwaves, more pollen, longer allergy seasons — to her patients' health is becoming routine. She is among a very small but growing number of doctors and nurses who discuss those connections with patients, in the exam room.
They can point to the World Health Organization, which calls climate change "the greatest health challenge of the 21st century," and a dozen U.S. medical societies that urge action to limit global warning. But none of those societies have guidelines that explain how providers should talk to patients about climate change. There is no list of "dos" — as in wear a seat belt, use sunscreen, and get exercise — or "don'ts" — as in smoke, drink too much or text while driving.
Climate change is different, says Rice, because an individual patient can't prevent it. So Rice focuses on steps her patients can take to cope with the consequences of heatwaves, more potent pollen and a longer allergy season.
More:
https://www.wbur.org/commonhealth/2019/05/01/climate-change-health-risks-doctor-conversations
