City Council - Regular Meeting

And with that, I want to thank everybody for. Again, given a part of their vacation day to come here about this topic that I think is really important. I mean, 1 of the things I hear most often when I'm just talking to constituents or people in the community is just concern around extreme weather. And our unhoused population, it certainly is. hard for me to imagine being on the streets in weather like we've had and that we're going to have for the next two months at least. And so I was on a panel recently for Healthy Climate New Mexico and talking about the work we've done at the city on making sure that everybody is cool and has cooling systems in their rental units, which is also a little scary if you do not. And I heard this presentation, heard about some of these resources, and I just thought it was really timely and wanted to make sure that we got this information to you all. And so I just want to thank Daniela and Matthew Triggs, Matthew Strigg and Kelly Watson. They're both with the New Mexico Department of Health. They're with the Heat Safety Project, and we are going to turn it over to them to do their presentation. I ask everyone to hold their questions until the end. So Kelly, Daniela, thank you for being here, and we'll let you take it away.

Thank you so much. Thanks for having us. Hi, everybody, many familiar faces. I am going to, ah, could I share my screen? would be able to um see um now we go there we go okay all right can everybody see my screen okay okay perfect thank you okay cool um apologies i have like 40 tabs open just like in on my computer and in my brain um okay So hi, everybody. Welcome. Good morning. My name is Daniela, and I'm here with my colleague, Kelly. And some of you have actually probably seen this presentation before. So we have added a few slides in that are new and different, but please bear with us. And we will definitely have Q&A time at the end. So yeah, please let us know any questions that you have. OK. We have been working on a campaign through the New Mexico Department of Health Harm Reduction Program about extreme heat, targeting specifically people who are experiencing homelessness and people who use drugs in our community. All right, so, okay, there we go. So, heat is, very often minimized and sort of not really thought of as the public health crisis and the health emergency that it is. Heat waves are, as we know, increasing. The heat season is getting longer. It's getting hotter. They say that this is going to be the coolest summer for the rest of our lives. So heat is definitely something that our communities need to be talking about, thinking about, and preparing for, which we're all doing. That's why we're here. So as we also know right now, there's a heat wave in Europe. and on the sort of like central east part of our country. And these are a lot of places that aren't used to extreme heat. They don't have air conditioners in people's homes. They don't have cooling centers set up. So this is definitely stuff that we as humanity need to be talking about more and more. Okay. So here is some data from New Mexico from the Department of Health Epidemiology Department. So as you can see, emergency department visits for heat stroke have been steadily increasing in New Mexico over the last 15 years, and they've almost doubled since the early 2010s. And... Yes. What else do I want to say about that? And more, there is a lot of heat data that we have and it's available on the New Mexico Department of Health heat data portal. And we have the website down there and feel free to follow up with us if you have more questions about that. So who is most at risk for extreme heat? So people who are unhoused, people with chronic illness, people with disabilities, people who use substances, people who are over the age of 65, older adults, people with mental health conditions, and people who are socially isolated. So as we know, a lot of these sort of people most at risk, there's intersections in people's health needs and stuff like that. So if somebody is an older adult with chronic health conditions, they're even at a greater risk. So Arizona has a long history of heat and a long history of collecting some really important heat data. So here is some data from 2023 and 2024 out of Maricopa County, Arizona. And it's looking at heat-related deaths. So they do collect heat information in the Office of Medical Exam, which is pretty unusual and something that a lot of states, including New Mexico, are looking at. So you will see here that it shows that people who were using substances have a much higher rate of death than people not using substances for heat death. And then also that people experiencing homelessness have a much higher rate of death than people who are housed for heat death as well. All right. So for our campaign that Kelly and I have been working on, we really wanted to raise awareness of the health disparities related to climate change, specifically extreme heat and who is most at risk. And we noticed a gap in public health information and guidance that was tailored to these most at risk groups. And so we wanted to work on that. So really, through the harm reduction section at the Department of Health, we created a targeted educational campaign to hopefully at least start filling this gap a little bit. So we use a harm reduction framework and we aimed to offer actionable and accessible information about heatstroke identification, prevention, and intervention, as well as information on interactions of substances with heat, and then protocols for assessing overdose versus heatstroke response. And I'm going to pass it over to Kelly.

Thank you, Daniela. So now we're going to talk about how to identify heat stroke, how to treat it, and how it can be prevented. So first, let's talk about heat exhaustion. And heat exhaustion is what you'll first start experiencing before it progresses to heat stroke. So you might be experiencing things like sweating, feeling weak or tired, feeling lightheaded or faint, and having nausea or vomiting. And heat exhaustion is dangerous. However, it usually can be managed with rehydrating, getting out of the sun and resting, or using one of the rapid cooling methods we'll talk about in a bit. Now, heat stroke is much more severe than heat exhaustion because your body cannot cool itself on its own anymore. And it is a range of physical and neurological symptoms that you might be experiencing. Your body is hot to the touch. Plus, you might have things like unconsciousness, stumbling around, agitation, confusion, and slurred speech or seizures. Sometimes people can kind of look like they might be drunk or something. Next slide please. So what do you do when you first recognize someone might be experiencing heat stroke? Well first we want to acknowledge that it is a medical emergency. It can really start taking a toll on organs if left untreated and so it's really important to get to get 911 involved first and foremost. And that is the first thing we say to do. And it's important to be explicit and telling them that you believe it's heat stroke so they know that it is an emergency and something with pretty severe symptoms and outcomes if left untreated. Um, number two is move to the shade if possible. Um, if you feel comfortable, get the person out of the sun, um, indoors in AC is preferable, but anywhere, um, out of the direct sunlight. And then number three is again, begin rapid cooling methods. Um, and that's what we will go ahead and talk about right now. Um, and then just like Daniela had noted, um, about the interaction with like substances sometimes, um, If the person is not breathing or struggling to breathe, that could also be a potential sign of an opioid overdose. And so that's where some of that crossover happens. But we still always recommend calling 911, administering naloxone if you have it, and beginning rescue breathing, and then treating heat stroke secondary. Okay, next slide, please. So these are the three clinically proven rapid cooling methods, and that is bathtub immersion, the taco method, and evaporative cooling. And with all these methods, it's really just choosing what you feel most comfortable doing and what resources you have available to use. So a lot of times because this campaign was geared towards people experiencing homelessness, they most likely might not have consistent access to a bathtub. And so having these other methods that are available to folks is really important because as Daniel said, we are working from a harm reduction framework. So like I said, some of these methods are better to use in certain situations than others. Again, it's really just picking about what's going to work best for you, depending where you are and what's going on with the situation and people around you. So, bathtub immersion obviously requires a bathtub and submerging the person in cold water, keeping their neck and head above the waterline. The TACO method is tarp-assisted cooling with oscillation, and that requires Yeah, a tarp and you put the person in the middle of the tarp and hopefully with other people or friends you have around you, you cover the person with ice and all pick up the tarp together and move the person back and forth in the ice and it works really well. I'm sure Daniela can attest to that. She was our actor in our taco method video. And then the last method is evaporative cooling, which this is probably the easiest method. It requires the fewest resources and you can pretty much do it anywhere. And it's just covering exposed skin and a fan with exposed skin with water and then fanning with whatever is available, like a fan itself or a piece of cardboard or whatever you have. and then um okay next slide please so preventing heat stress equals harm reduction and before we jump into kind of these prevention methods i want to touch on the title of preventing heat stress equals harm reduction because harm reduction is often thought of in relation to drugs or substances only You know, things like syringe exchange programs. But I think harm reduction is really a framework that can be applied to all areas of life where harm is possible. Harm reduction at its core is about improving health and wellness with resources we have available to us. And heat safety is another place where harm reduction principles can be applied and things we do all the time already by wearing things like sunscreen, staying hydrated, and so on. So these are the methods that we suggest utilizing to best prevent heat exhaustion or heat stroke. A lot of them, again, are simple things we are already probably familiar to us. However, the important thing to know is we need to continue to always do them consistently. You can't just put sunscreen on once and then you're good for the rest of the day or drink one bottle of water. It has to be consistent. So we recommend rest during the hottest parts of the day. I mean, taking breaks, staying hydrated is super important, especially here in New Mexico, where I'm at high elevation and in our dry climate, we get dehydrated more easily. So that's really important, especially if you're outdoors doing any kind of strenuous activity. And then next is staying in the shade. Staying out of direct sunlight is super helpful. Umbrellas are great. And then last is utilizing the evaporative cooling just because it is so easy to do. Next slide, please. So, let's talk about substance use and heat a little bit. Substance use in combination with extreme heat can pose additional health risks because of how substances interact with the body. So, this can mean things like reducing the body's ability to control its internal temperature, increasing Increasing internal temperature, making it difficult to recognize symptoms of overheating and dehydration, and can cause excess sweating. As well as it can kind of exacerbate other things like mental health conditions and other issues that people might be facing. And so I think when we talk about substance use, we often think of illicit substances like fentanyl. However, other substances like alcohol and many prescription medications can also potentially have dangerous interactions with the heat. So that's just something to be aware of and that this really is an issue that could potentially affect all of us. And next slide. So now we're gonna go ahead and show you one of the videos from the campaign. This is the evaporative cooling method like I've been talking about. It's going to kind of give you some tips on how to recognize heat stroke, and then again, how to do the cooling method. And just to note, all of the videos are available on our website, nmharmreduction.org, and the NMDOH YouTube page. They are also available in Spanish. So Daniela, whenever you're ready, go ahead.

Oh, yeah. Oh, sorry. Okay, there we go. All right.

Oh, oh my gosh. Let me know if y'all can hear this.

here for our team. If you go to some club, I don't know if you've ever been to a club, I don't know if you've ever been to a club, I don't know if you've ever been to a club, I don't know if you've ever been to a club, I don't know if you've ever been to a club, I don't know if you've ever been and the more that we want it to be. It changes who we're listening to. We can see the people, and some of them are doing it. Some of them are the major donors for them, or they don't want to do it. They need to do it, or I'm not with the person, because I'm not with the person. So, I don't know. I don't know.

and apologies i see in the chat that the sound was a bit muffled so i think that's my audio sorry everyone but we will link to the videos in the chat all right okay Thank you, Kelly. So we also have, so in addition to the videos, we also have print and digital resources available. So this one on the left, I think of your screen, the overdose and heat stroke response flyer, it's like a quarter sheet, like postcard size. And then the beat the heat, that's a poster size. So we have a number of different sort of resources available through the Department of Health. And on this QR code and on the website that I put in the chat, all of those materials are available for download and feel free to take them and share them out. And then we also have the series of rapid cooling heat videos. Sorry again about the audio on that. But like Kelly said, they all sort of are different methods for rapid cooling. And those are also available on the website. And please feel free to share them out. All right. So... Cross-sector partnerships were really the sort of foundation of this project. And that meant drawing on heat and climate specialists, harm reductionists, public health advocates, trusted outreach workers, and experts by experience, people with lived and living experience. And so this breadth of experience and expertise has really widened the project's reach beyond our sort of initial expectations and beyond our sort of dreams for this project. hopefully deepened its impact as well. So we really want to call out some of our partners. The Burke AB, we have been partnering with them. We are so lucky to get that opportunity to partner with them. Albuquerque Street Newspaper and they actually have created a zine by some of their creators based on sort of some of our heat information that we have and the videos and And we actually just had 5,000 copies printed. And so soon those are going to be distributed around Albuquerque to folks who are experiencing homelessness. So that hopefully will be a very, very effective way of getting the message out to folks who really need it the most. We also have been partnering with New Mexico Harm Reduction Coalition. They do really amazing work and have been sort of doing work in the sort of like, how do we keep people cool field for many, many years. So they're very experienced. And then Healthy Climate New Mexico have really been our sort of heat and climate technical experts on this project. They are a climate organization of health care providers and clinicians. And yeah, speaking of Healthy Climate New Mexico, so they created a companion report for this project. So if this is something that interests you, I really recommend reading it. We will also put the link for this report in the chat. But it really gives the sort of background of how we came up with the videos and the we mentioned earlier, there really was sort of a gap that we identified around sort of talking about drug use and talking about heat safety and sort of the intersection of all of those pieces. And so we really wanted to pull on the experts to make sure that the information we are sharing out is like accurate and evidence based. So the report really goes over sort of like evidence based best practices around sort of like heat crisis emergency work. They talk about really the population specific considerations and risks which are inherent in our campaign. And then sort of recognition and response protocols. We based a lot of our response protocols through this project. We based it on like wild, like nature emergency crisis response for like wildlife response. I don't know if that's quite the right word, but like emergencies in the wilderness, wilderness response.

There we go.

And they also in the report and throughout our campaign, we really emphasize bystander recognition. So like, yes, it's important to take care of yourself, but we also have to take care of each other. And so that's sort of like a main piece of this campaign that is really important is that everybody has this information so that we can all take care of each other. And then the sort of evidence-based hierarchy of the cooling methods like Kelly talked about, there are sort of like based on the resources that you have available, these are the different methods you can use through a harm reduction framework of there are no wrong choices. All of these are good. Which one is the best for you in this moment? And then the report also just really highlights the gaps that we've all identified in this work and then opportunities for future research. So there's so much more heat to come, and there's more research that needs to be done as well in this area. Yeah, so thank you all so much. We are so grateful to be here today. And here's our contact information. Please reach out. And then this QR code will take you to our website, and we'll also put links in the chat if that's easier for you.

Thank you. Yeah, please, we'll do the link for the video because it got really static and we could not hear it. But we could see it and we could at least see the method, which was basically just cold water and fanning them, which is... Good to know. All right. So we will open it up for Q&A. If you have a question, please raise your hand. Do the function on here. And if you can't figure that out, just wave at me. And you can go to Ilsa first.

Hi, I made some notes as we went along. Thank you very much for this. And it's one question for the DOH folks, and then two comments to you, please, Tammy. And I'll start with you, because I don't think you can answer it immediately. Shade is so important, and yet I work in the ID, so many of the trees have disappeared. Is there any way that the council could perhaps investigate each block of street needs so many trees or just something like that, or even put a moratorium on cutting the trees next to bus stops? We know that's a patrol exercise of this administration. So that's the one thing. The other one is. this tick the box of pretending that we're looking at cooling stations in the city. Just saying, OK, here's a long old list of libraries and community centers, et cetera. And it's nothing really dedicated or where the city actually does something to create cooling possibilities. And then even putting in incorrect information, the city's website. had the Albuquerque Indian Center listed for how long as one of the cooling possibilities. They've been gone perhaps now like two years. The most recent, let's campaign cool down or whatever the thing is called, still listed God's Warehouse. But the city's own code enforcement and safety people down the building in September last year. So that just shows to me that the city is just ticking the boxes and not really taking this seriously. And especially with all the displacements going on, the least they can do is to then actually just have the information correct, even if they don't build something. That's sort of just, it's a heavy lift for you, I know, but I don't know where else to still complain about this.

So I'm going to jump in and try to answer those two, and then we can go to the question for Danielle. So the tree situation and the shade situation is a real problem. We do have in ordinance, our complete streets ordinance requires street trees, and it requires them to be maintained. And I am trying right now on a section in district 7 to enforce that. So, you know, they put them in when they start when they get a permit. And then they die, or they just remove them and no 1 has been enforcing that. So we are doing it. hopefully a successful test run on Manal of really trying to enforce, you have to maintain those shade structures. It's not just for beauty. It's for urban heat island impact and all of those things, as well as people need places to sit that are shaded. So I agree with you on that. Another thing that we've just done, and this is for each of the counselors to have an opportunity to use this money, i put money in the budget again this year for tree plantings and we can choose neighborhoods in district 7 we overlay a map of low income with a map of high urban heat island impacts and we try to focus on the the biggest areas of overlap and no surprise those maps are almost exactly the same right where there is a high heat problem there is also Very low income people and so so agree with that and that's something that I'm trying to maximize more. And so what would be helpful? I, I do not know about the example you gave of trees being cut down near the bus stops. And so, if you could, when you see that, if you could take a photo. And send it to me with, like, an address. Then I can see about the enforcement. I'm not going to lie. The enforcement is not coming along. You know, I can't tell city staff what to do, but I could push and push and push. So, but I don't know. I don't know of any examples of that happening at bus stops. So please help me help me understand when it's happening. And then the website update for cooling centers. Thank you for letting me know. I did not know. I will be texting our director since we get off here to say, we can get that updated. I do think that we have. A pretty extensive network. I think there's always more that can be done. I was happy last week. They even turned on sprinklers around town for for fully. But I agree that I did not know that there was outdated information on the website and I will make sure that we get that to the right people. So. Those are my question or my answers for now with a request for more information and now let's get to the question for Danielle and.

Sorry, I'm taking up. So, Daniela, you created this little program with A Light in the Night about foot care. And because people have got to walk so much and with the heat, everything exacerbates and so on. So I volunteer with two tones. So I'm a little bit familiar, but it might just be interesting for other people to know that that is an added problem, especially with the displacements and that people have to just walk and walk and walk and perhaps just give a list of what you think should be in a little care packet for foot care. Thank you.

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Ilse. And sorry, very quick note in terms of the cooling list on the city website. Somebody from First Nations actually told me that the information about First Nations is incorrect on there, too. So sorry, Tammy, if you're if you're making that call, add those links. that information there. So yeah, late in the night, wow, doing such incredible work out there. So we have brought them some of our overdose and heat response flyers that they're distributing during their outreaches. And so we actually, we aren't doing like a foot safety kit, although that is a very good idea because We have heard from other cities around the country that they first start really noticing the heat when people are coming to shelters with no shoes because their sandals and their flip-flops have melted. So that is starting to happen in New Mexico as well. I actually heard that for the first time from a provider in Albuquerque. So what we are making through the Department of Health are these heat safety kits. And unfortunately, we don't have the funding to provide them to community organizations yet, but we are distributing them through our mobile health units around the state. But we are talking to people about how to make these little heat kits. And let me grab the one that I have here. But the materials... So what is included in them is a washcloth, sunscreen, lip balm, and bug repellent, and then our informational flyer. And so this is just sort of an example that we're creating to sort of say, like, you know, any organization can create something like this. We would love to, you know, help talk about it. And we'd love to find ways for more funding that we can distribute it more widely. But yeah, that's what we have available right now in our mobile unit.

So yeah, thank you, Ilse. That's incredible. How much would it cost to create a number of those?

Yeah, that's a great question. So through the Department of Health, we sort of buy them in extremely large quantities for our mobile units. Each packet, like the sunscreen packet, the lip balm packet, and the bug repellent, no more than $0.30 each, I think, if you buy these sort of little packets. And then we just include these, you know, ideally we would include cooling towels. Those are amazing. And you can get them in bulk for, you know, $2, $3, but we do just have like washcloths and then these little packets. So if you, I think that if you were to buy, this is sunscreen, a little lip balm packet, and then we have, insect repellent. And I don't have them with me now, but we also include electrolyte packets. So that's, you know, it's not a solution, but at least for that one day, maybe we can make someone a little bit safer that one day and a little bit more comfortable in the heat. But yeah, I think if you are creating these in bulk, no more than like a dollar per bag, probably, if you're getting the small packets.

Thank you for that. James? Yeah.

Yeah, I just wanted, this is kind of a corollary to what Ilse was talking about, and I'm just wondering, does the DOH also place on its website the network of places where people can actually get off the streets and out of the element into shade or structure, and ideally structure that has running water? because I think, you know, and then from there we can go to toilets as well. But, uh, to, uh, some people may know to, to have counted as many vacant empty buildings scattered throughout the city as I have. And at the same time know that, you know, people literally have to bus across town to find a, a, a bathroom. Um, It's kind of crazy making. But anyway, it just seems to me that we couldn't do enough to publish everywhere we can the network of places where people can get out of the elements and cool off. Thank you.

Yeah. Yeah. Holly, I don't know if you want to take this, but so we don't publish that information on our Department of Health Harm Reduction website only because we're sort of statewide and it's sort of, you know, the location of cooling centers is sort of in flux often and we just like can't update our website that often, unfortunately. But we do try and, you know, tell people to check out. In Albuquerque, we're sort of like the city of Albuquerque website has a list. And then in other places as well, we sort of direct them to like the Las Cruces city. They, you know, have cooling centers down there as well. So yeah. Thanks, James.

Thank you. I, I, We'll say, I'm going to work on getting that list updated. I did not know it wasn't correct. So I'm really glad we learned about that. And then we do as a city have an extensive network of places to go. I know it's not enough, but there is a lot. I've toured quite a few of them. um and you know so we do some um but we definitely need to do more and then just quickly i want to just say we cannot force anyone to open their private buildings to people so i that's just not an answer that we can do i do not have the authority to say you have to open your business or your empty building to anyone so that's just not possible um all right karen uh yes hi um uh

Comment and question. And the comment would be that I think a lot of people are not aware that there are libraries open on Sundays because people think there's nowhere to go on Sunday. And if you are a resident of Albuquerque, you are absolutely entitled to To walk into any library. And if you have any bad experience doing that, if you're an in-house person, you should let an advocate know to follow that up because you are entitled to. I don't know. I haven't looked at it closely enough. If it's on a bus line, all of them. But surely there's one or more that are, and I think we can really encourage people to take advantage of that resource that's already available. The question I have is, is that zine that you talked about available for downloading and printing? I'm sorry, that Kelly...

The zine, yeah. Yeah, Kelly, do you want to... I think I know that Berkey Beat had wanted to put it on their website. I don't know.

Is it available yet, Daniela? It has not been digitized yet, but it will be.

Yeah, their plan was to be able to digitize it. So it should be at some point soon.

I'm sorry. Did you say Berkey Beat then? Yes. Oh, OK. I can get in touch with Sarah. Yeah, totally.

If you're not familiar with the Berkey Beat, reach out. I have sponsored that as much as I could. They have a lot of great relationships in the community. It's Sarah Azibo doing really incredible work and getting good information out. There's a really good, off-topic a little bit, but not really. There's a great article in the last one about how unhoused people are being basically jailed for being unhoused. And it's a really interesting read, and I encourage everybody to take a look and get involved with that organization if you can. They're doing really, really good things.

Just a comment with regards to the network that already exists in Albuquerque, the libraries, the community centers, and so on. The buildings exist. But the impact of so many folks living outside and needing to find some informal shelter is also now wearing the various places a lot. So I'm hearing a lot of concerns where people are only tolerated or sort of just very grudgingly allowed to come in. If you're hot and bothered and you actually just need to sit and cool down, as we saw during this presentation, these places, they are city places. They need to be meaningfully accessible and actually allow people the time that they need to sit down and just find themselves again. And that is not happening today. And it's obviously the individual librarians, perhaps. The ID librarians are fantastic. Problem is they've now been told they're no longer allowed to have people bring in their belongings. So even if they've just got some bags and so on, those bags should stay outside. That's not making it accessible. So there really needs to be a rethink. So it's not just a case of we've got an address that we can put on a list. That address actually needs to mean something. And some community centers are downright unfriendly, and I'm thinking specifically of Singing Arrow.

Thank you for that, Elsa. Again, I've toured them, of course, when I'm there. I don't see that because I'm there and I know who I am. But if if those kinds of things happen please be very specific and email me what happened the time the date the place they give us the details so that i can my office can follow up on it because that is not happening when i'm present but once again everybody knows that I'm gonna have a heart attack if that happens, right? So please help me by giving, just like the tree stuff, like I won't know unless somebody tells me specifics. And if I just forward a, hey, singing arrow isn't being welcoming, that's not much that they can work with. But if I get specific date, time and what happened, then I can push it a little bit. So please help me.

Bear in mind that the advocates are also not there 24-7. So we obviously rely on what we hear from people, staff members who work there and people who visit. Yeah, totally understand.

Any other questions? I have a couple, but I want to make sure everybody gets their questions answered. Are there any in the chat, Sean?

No, we have no questions in the chat at this point.

Okay. Well, I'll just ask a couple. And then if there's something pops to mind, just raise your hand and I'll call on you next. I saw the data, Daniela, that you were giving that talks about the emergency room visits. But I saw last year that in Arizona they're tracking heat-related deaths. Are we doing that for New Mexico?

We are not yet doing that. Yeah, I don't know a lot about it, but I do know that there is an incredible group of the Office of Medical Examiner and like Health Care for the Homeless. And Ilse, you might be in that group. I don't know. There's some really amazing folks in Albuquerque and in New Mexico who are looking at that data and how they can help. Collect both housing, so you have to be collecting both housing status to know if someone is unsheltered, and then collecting sort of heat, death information is tricky because a lot of people who, you know, pass away from heat, it is because of also the exacerbation of like chronic health conditions. So it is tricky. So I think what the Office of Medical Examiner here and this incredible group of people are doing is really looking at how can we collect this data in a way that makes sense to sort of find the information that we need, I think. So I think it's in progress.

Okay, thank you. Yeah, great question. And then, well, two more. Anybody wants to jump in, just raise your hand. But this is a little... not directly related to the homeless population, but I know that the state of New Mexico is working on a heat safety rule for workers, meaning that we have people like, you know, in this weather, working on roofing, working on redoing the I-25 in Albuquerque, right? It is extremely hot and extremely dangerous. And that rule has been delayed again, is what I'm told. Can you Do you know the update on that? I know it's not specifically your job, but I thought you might know the latest.

I don't. I'm not sure. Yeah, I don't know the latest. I'm sorry. I do. Yeah, I know Healthy Climate New Mexico is working on that. But yeah, I'm not sure the status of that. Sorry.

Okay. Yeah, it's just for everybody else. I think it is a really important one because if you are working as a loofer right now, I mean, I can't even imagine. And just having basic safety for those folks will be important. And then the last question I had was just around, can we talk a little bit? We talked a lot about unhoused folks and obviously they are extreme, extremely at risk for heat stroke and heat exhaustion. But what about folks that are living in you know, substandard apartments and rental units that we get calls all the time about, you know, the cooling system. We do now require cooling systems, which we didn't originally. But if it's not working, what danger are they in? Is it extreme or is it, you know, middle ground? Like, what are their health risks?

Yeah, that's a great question. So another sort of advocacy project that Healthy Climate New Mexico I know has worked on and is working on is around regulations for cooling, like acceptable cooling in sort of like low income housing in the state. And I believe that that passed. I also I'm sorry, I don't I haven't. stayed up to date with that one. But so the danger of being in a very hot house is extremely high. And so a lot of the heat mortality numbers across the country are really people who are unsheltered and older adults and people with chronic health conditions and disabilities who are housed. But for whatever reason, their cooling does not work. So I recently read sort of, you know, so I think isolated people who are isolated is, I think, one of the major categories. Because it often is sort of people who are isolated, people who have disabilities, people who are older adults, it all sort of intersects. And then if your air conditioning goes out in the middle of a heat wave and you don't have a support system or you don't have sort of the physical ability to get help, that is where the sort of emergency really is. So that's why a lot of the guidance that you are sort of that you read is sort of like check on your elderly and disabled neighbors because they might need that help. And, you know, if there's a brownout or a blackout that, you know, increase in the danger. So even if you have a functioning air conditioning system, it's really hot outside, there's a brownout, and it just is like too much. So, you know, the thing that the piece of like what makes heat really dangerous is when your body heats up, but is not able to cool itself. And so, like Kelly talked about, you know, that could be because you are somebody who has a chronic health condition and you're on a medication that lowers your ability to sweat. And so if you have a brownout but you're in a home, like, that can be super dangerous. So it's all of these sort of pieces compounded. So it is, yeah, very, very dangerous to be in a very hot house in addition to being very dangerous if you're, like, exposed in the elements. And I think we lost... Tammy for a moment, so I hope that answered the question.

She was able to hop back on. But we're working on audio issues. But we also did have one question that was in the chat, which is more for us. And that was a question about the Albuquerque shelter bed tracker update. There seems to be a significant number of beds available during the heat wave. Is there an effort to encourage people to utilize the shelters? Also, why isn't the Gateway Youth Adult Facility including the shelter bed tracker update? Councilor, I don't know if you have audio, if you want to take a shot of these.

Seems like she does not have audio.

With the Gateway Youth Adult Facility, or Young Adult Facility, that, I'm not sure why it's not on the shelter bed tracker. It is by request, or by referral only, so perhaps that is the reason. We'll have to check into that. It is also just opened a few months ago, so it may not have just been added yet. For the It's a different number of beds available line. I'm just be honest and say, I don't know the answer to that. And so, but a lot of the shelters actually are don't allow people during the daytime, which I think is a travesty. So that's the one thing I can say about that. And yellow or Kelly, if you have anything to add, feel free. No. Okay, since I think we've lost Councilor Peabocorn, if anyone else has any questions, feel free to raise your hand or put them in the chat. Otherwise, we'll end five minutes early and give everyone some extra time on this holiday.

Thank you so much. I also just wanted to very quickly shout out, Karen put a link in the chat to the presentation by Heat Ready Phoenix that was on the New Mexico Healthy Climate Summit this year. And I really recommend watching that. Thank you, Karen, for putting that. It's a really fantastic presentation about what they're doing in Phoenix to support their unsheltered community members during heat. And it's really inspiring. And I think there's a lot we can learn as New Mexicans from Arizona. So thank you.

Right. Well, thank you so much, Danielle and Kelly, for joining us today. And thank you, everyone, for joining us. Is he caring for a hand up? Any one last word?

Yeah, just that there is a specific video on Heat Ready Phoenix, and I got so much out of that. And it also showed what an incredible response the city of Phoenix has done that could be emulated here.

Awesome. Be sure to link that to folks in the newsletter as well as any other resources that Daniela and Kelly provide. Our next newsletter, which comes out the second or the third Thursday of the third, excuse me, third Friday of the month. But I see the counselors jump back on. So give her one second to see if she wants to have any last words before we say happy Fourth of July to everyone.

Thank you for jumping in, Sean. Sorry, everyone. I just got frozen and could not get back on. But I want to thank the speakers for all the great information. We really appreciate you being here, especially giving up some of your vacation time. So really, really appreciate that. I also want to thank Sean again. He's calling in from his remote vacation to help us this morning. And so thanks. you know, just amazingly dedicated folks. And we really appreciate you. Everybody, thank you for joining us on the 4th of July, and we will see you in August. Bye-bye.

Thank you. Thanks.