Committee directs health staff to explore heat‑death tracking and best practices after staff briefing
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Summary
Metro Health and resilience staff briefed the committee on existing heat-illness dashboards and resilience work; the Governance Committee referred a CCR asking for standardized tracking of heat-related illnesses and deaths to the Community Health Committee for further study and potential partnership with UT Health Science Center.
The Governance Committee voted to send to the Community Health Committee a council consideration request asking Metro Health to explore standardized tracking of heat-related illnesses and deaths and to examine best practices from other jurisdictions.
Metro Health staff outlined existing local resources: a weekly heat-related illness dashboard (March–October emergency-department data), a heat resilience playbook developed with the Department of Resilience and Sustainability, and an online hot-weather resource hub that maps resilience hubs and cooling locations. Staff also said the city has conferred with the Bexar County Medical Examiner and the Texas Department of State Health Services and noted that national and state-level standardization for heat-related death reporting is inconsistent.
Sponsors of the CCR said standardized tracking is needed to identify population groups at risk (people experiencing homelessness, outdoor workers, seniors) and to develop targeted mitigation and adaptation responses. Staff advised the committee that some heat-related deaths may be undercounted due to limitations in death-certificate classifications. The committee approved referral for further discussion and asked staff to coordinate with UT Health Science Center, Maricopa County (for best practices) and other partners in developing options for San Antonio.