Week 9
Heat, Health and Community Resilience
How does the body respond to extreme heat and heatwaves? What are the best ways to stay safe?
This week you will learn about how the body responds to heat across the human lifespan and explore evidence-based ways to keep cool. You will learn about the risk factors present during heatwaves and importance of preparedness and managing stress during a webinar with the Australian Red Cross. All schools have the option to visit the University of Sydney Heat and Health Research Centre’s Thermal Ergonomics Laboratory to learn about current research.
You will use this information to complete Task 3 and create targeted heat-safe messaging in your community.
‘Extreme heat can impact our health in a number of different ways. During very hot weather or when we are physically active, our bodies begin to accumulate heat, to store heat, and if this is unchecked our core body temperature gradually begins to rise, and this can begin to result in a number of different health-related issues.’
Heat and Health – Dr James Smallcombe
Webinar
Heatwaves: Preparedness and Managing Stress
With Eilish Maguire
10am–10.40am, 27 March 2025
Australian Red Cross has been working alongside communities for 110 years as they prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. In this webinar, Eilish Maguire will discuss why preparedness is important, give advice on how to prepare yourself and your loved ones, and give some hot tips on how you can manage your stress and mental health during a heatwave. This session will give you ideas on how you can support your household, school and community to be better prepared for a heatwave.
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