HEAT DASHBOARD: The state Department of Health launched a new online database of heat-related risk and illness. The interactive platform, known as the Heat Risk and Illness Dashboard, uses data from the National Weather Service and state agencies to provide a snapshot of reported heat-related illnesses across the state based on emergency calls and hospital visits. The new information system comes as the state enters the hottest months, when each year people die or are hospitalized due to excessive heat. Most at risk are people with co-morbidities, disproportionately in Black and low-income communities in homes that lack air conditioning.
DIALYSIS MOVE: North Shore University Hospital is moving and expanding its acute dialysis unit. The hospital is moving its unit to a new 5,500 square-foot space formerly occupied by a pediatric intensive care unit that was decertified, along with equipment storage and office space, according to a filing with the state Health Department. The $5.1 million project will double the number of dialysis stations from 6 to 12. The construction, which will take roughly seven months to complete, is needed to meet the growing demand for dialysis. The project entails the creation of isolation rooms, doctors’ offices and other support space.
