Straining the System: Heat and Health-Care Outcomes, with Sandra Aguilar-Gomez

In this week’s episode, host Kristin Hayes sits in on the annual conference of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists to talk with Sandra Aguilar-Gomez, an assistant professor of economics at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia, about Aguilar-Gomez’s work on heat-induced overcrowding in hospitals in Mexico. They discuss the effect of heat on human health, the stress that high temperatures exert on the Mexican public health-care system, and the impact of overcrowded hospitals on patient outcomes. Aguilar-Gomez also shares strategies for bolstering the emergency preparedness of hospitals, such as improving communication between hospitals and encouraging people to take preventative measures during periods of extreme heat.