As the temperature rises in the lead up to summer, Queensland researchers have launched a project to develop an in-home early warning system for elderly residents during extreme heat.
With El Niño expected to deliver a scorching summer to Australia, a team at Griffith University will trial a system to alert the over-65s when temperatures inside their homes becomes dangerous, and provide personalised cooling advice to reduce the health risk.
The trial will involve placing small sensors in three rooms of participants’ homes and one outside to monitor the temperature and humidity.
Personalised cooling advice will then be made via a tablet-like device.
The researchers say extreme heat kills more people in Australia than any other natural disaster.In Queensland, a study has found ambulance call-outs increased by more than 12 per cent during heatwaves.Leader of the Ethos – Extreme Heat and Older Persons — Project Shannon Rutherford said the researchers would give elderly participants cooling recommendations based on their individual circumstances.
“We won’t be asking them to turn their air conditioning on, if they don’t have it,” Associate Professor Rutherford said.
“They may not have the ability to use their air conditioning even if they have it because of the increasing energy costs. That’s always in the back of our minds as well. How can we support them without them having to rely on air conditioning?
“There’s a whole range of things that we can be doing about cooling individuals that are more tailored to their own needs and capacity.”
Suggestions may include opening windows, immersing hands or feet into water or moving to a different room in the house.
Ethos Project human physiologist Aaron Bach said the aim of the system was to protect older people from heat-related illness and the indirect impact of excess heat on their existing health conditions.
“By doing these two things we can reduce their need for an ambulance and hospital admission,” Dr Bach said.
“Every heat-related fatality is preventable.”
Dr Bach said the elderly were more at risk of heat stress than younger people.
He said extreme heat could put pressure on an elderly person’s heart and other organs, such as the lungs and the kidneys.
Older people also have a reduced capacity to sweat, which is a key way the body uses to cool down in extreme heat.
Experts say this may be worsened with common medications.
