Heat illness guidelines issued for public classrooms

The state Health and Education departments are issuing detailed guidance to parents, schools and health aides in an effort to prevent heat illness as the state continues to face record high temperatures.

Letters will be sent home to parents providing recommendations to help students prepare for hot days. Schools will also receive guidance to identify heat illness-related symptoms and action steps should a student or staff member become ill.

Public health experts from DOH were instrumental in helping to develop a more expansive guidance for all stakeholders.

“It was important to collaborate with public health professionals to offer sound advice to schools on how to better deal with the extreme heat teachers and students have been experiencing in classrooms,” said state schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi.

“The Department of Health is happy to have been able to provide expertise and assistance on developing this important guidance for teachers and students,” state Health Director Dr. Virginia Pressler said. “We believe working together to better inform parents and school personnel will help prevent heat illness cases.”

In addition to parent letters, posters that identify symptoms and treatments will be posted in every classroom, health room and school office. The poster is also available online at bitly.com/HeatGuidelines.

Since August, DOE has been working on emergency measures to help cool schools experiencing high temperatures due to the unusually hot weather. These measures include the installation of portable air conditioners and electrical fans. Last week, DOE announced a partnership with Hawaii 3R’s to raise funds towards cooling schools. That effort is ongoing. Learn more at http://hawaii3rs.com/uncategorized/cool-schools-2015/.