NIHHIS Southwest Regional Pilot: 2017 Winter Work Streams Meeting Summary

On January 18th, 2017, the working groups (referred to as “work streams”) of the National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS) Southwest Pilot Project met in El Paso, Texas, to advance the priorities identified during the July 2016 workshop on “Developing an Integrated Heat Health Information System for Long-Term Resilience to Climate and Weather Extremes in the El Paso-Juárez-Las Cruces Region”. The primary goals of the January 18 meeting were to foster ongoing communication among the work streams, and to plan for the upcoming heat season. The participants developed ideas for new research initiatives, and identified community engagement opportunities, information needs, and approaches for increasing awareness and building capacity to improve preparedness for regional extreme heat episodes. Specific efforts were also focused on finalizing and preparing for heat-health surveys to be distributed in Las-Cruces and El Paso in the spring season.