A new way to keep apprised of heat-related illnesses and deaths has been launched by the Maricopa County Department of Public Health.

The interactive dashboard is designed to help provide county residents with more accessible and timely information, according to a release.

“This is a significant new step in tracking the effects of heat on people who live in or visit Maricopa County, which we have been doing since 2006,” Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine, medical director for MCDPH, said.

“This information has helped focus prevention strategies on those at highest risk of heat-related illness and death, and this new approach to visualizing the data makes it easier for our partners to translate data into action.”

The new tool coincides with a multi-partner, countywide heat preparedness and response effort underway to prevent another summer of record-breaking heat deaths, county health officials said.

“The dashboard will help public health officials and other key stakeholders involved in heat response activities monitor health impacts of environmental temperature and help inform outreach and interventions needed to help residents stay safe from extreme heat,” the release stated.

The online tracker will be updated on Tuesdays and allow the user to interact with the data. It features:

• Near real-time data on heat-related hospital visits in addition to data on heat-related deaths.
• Comparative data for heat-related deaths and hospital visits for 2023 and 2024.
• Patient characteristics by age, race and sex to demonstrate who is at highest risk from heat and inform prevention efforts.
• Patient characteristics on housing status and substance use involvement in heat-related hospital visits and deaths.

As of May 27th, two deaths during April were confirmed to be heat-related according to certified death certificates, and 42 are under investigation by the Office of the Medical Examiner, the release stated.

To view the dashboard: https://www.maricopa.gov/1858/Heat-Surveillance