Navigating Pregnancy and Children’s Health as our Climate Warms

The summer of 2023 was Earth’s hottest since global records began in 1880 and projections for 2024 are for the trend to continue with temperatures to be among the 10 hottest summers on record. Climate change has been a driver of hotter summers. Extreme and consistent heat has health impacts on everyone, but children and pregnant people have unique risks.

This webinar will delve into the physiological impact of heat on children and pregnant people, focusing on particularly vulnerable populations. The presenters will also share some tips for keeping vulnerable populations and others safer on days that are dangerously hot.

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the physiological impact of heat.
2. State population vulnerabilities to heat related illness.
3. Describe three actions to reduce the health risks of heat.

Presenters

Daniel J. Smith, PhD, AGPCNP-BC, CNE, Assistant Professor, Villanova University M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing is a doctorally prepared nurse practitioner and was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Future of Nursing Scholar. His overarching research interest lies at the intersection of understanding the effects of climate change on the health outcomes of disenfranchised populations and how we can build climate resilience and adaptation skills in communities & health systems. He also has expertise on the environmental determinants of health and has been the academic lead for community-based participatory research projects examining the impact of the lead exposure of immigrant families in Philadelphia, PA, and heat exposure on migrant farmworker families in Southeastern Georgia. He continues to hold a clinical practice one day per week and is fluent in Spanish.

Katie Huffling, DNP, RN, CNM, FAAN is a Certified Nurse-Midwife and the Executive Director of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (ANHE). With ANHE, Dr. Huffling works with nurses and nursing organizations to elevate environmental health issues, such as climate change, toxic chemicals, and sustainability in healthcare, amongst the nursing profession. Dr. Huffling is a passionate supporter of nurse-led advocacy in support of healthier environments for all.

Dr. Huffling received her DNP in Health Innovation and Leadership from the University of Minnesota. She is an appointed member of the US Environmental Protection Agency Children’s Health Protection Advisory Council and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Decarbonizing the U.S. Health Sector. She was a recipient of the 2018 Charlotte Brody Award which recognizes nurses who go beyond everyday nursing endeavors to proactively promote and protect environmental health.