After a season of deadly and devastating floods, the (still-recent) heat and drought can seem like a distant memory.
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For Moruya resident Janice de Jager, it is not. "I was a fit and healthy 67-year-old stall holder at the Moruya Market, until one hot Saturday, I had a cardiac arrest and almost died," Ms de Jager said.
It was late 2018, in the midst of the worst drought in NSW. The festive season was around the corner, as was the hottest and driest year on record for Australia.
"I was packing up my stall at the end of the market, in the heat of the day and the next thing I knew, I was in the cardiac unit of Canberra Hospital," Ms de Jager said.
I first met Janice when she was unconscious at Moruya Markets. With the assistance of friends, a pool life guard and prompt access to a defibrillator, we were able to save her life.
Janice later found out her heart muscle had been weakened by chemotherapy following breast cancer some years earlier and it chose that day, in the heat and exertion, to stop beating.
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"Having been healthy until that day, I realised we are all vulnerable to the effects of climate," Ms de Jager said.
The connection between heat exposure and illness is a growing concern for doctors around the world. Right now, a punishing heatwave in India is seeing the country experiencing its hottest April ever, and the temperatures are deadly.
It's well established that increasing temperatures, and in particularly heat waves, are a significant risk for precipitating heart attacks, strokes, blood clots, kidney failure and a host of other illnesses. When you overlay climate change - and the future predictions if we continue on with business as usual - heat related deaths are going to become increasingly common.
Since the day I met Janice, I worry about how climate change is making our planet hotter and deadlier and how it is going to impact every one of us - particularly our children and the vulnerable.
It will be commonplace to have outdoor events, like Moruya Markets, cancelled because it's unsafe to be outside in such hot weather.
It's vital our elected officials address these issues - our health and wellbeing depends on it.
With fellow Gilmore resident and Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA) board member Dr Stefanie Pidcock, we have met federal candidates, including current MP Fiona Phillips and Liberal candidate Andrew Constance. Our message to them: we must raise the bar on climate action.
"Whichever candidate wins the seat, we are looking to them to drive more ambitious national plans to cut climate pollution within their party," Dr Pidock said. "This includes banning new coal, gas and oil projects, ending public funding to fossil fuels and accelerating the transition to renewable energy and transport."
Currently neither the Labor nor Liberal parties hold such policies.
"Without deep cuts in our emissions this decade, we don't have a hope of keeping our planet under 1.5 degrees," Dr Pidcock said. "In fact, we are staring down the barrel of a hellish and inescapable hothouse."
Australia's healthcare sector contributes seven per cent of Australia's overall carbon pollution. No party has a plan to address this.
DEA is calling for the development of a National Sustainability Healthcare Unit, to help reduce our sector's own carbon pollution.
"The UK is leagues ahead in this space and proving to be incredibly effective at reducing waste while also saving money," Dr Pidcock said.
"We don't have to reinvent the wheel. We can implement successful measures now. We just need federal government commitment."
DEA have been tirelessly working on a National Climate Change and Health Strategy. Now it's time for our elected representatives to implement these important strategies.
Action on climate change has significant benefits for human health. If we stop burning toxic fossils fuels for energy and transport, we could all breathe easier knowing we have taken a first necessary step to a brighter future.
I've dedicated my spare time to climate action and advocacy, for my children, my community and my planet. We all have a part to play in this critical time.
Dr Michelle Hamrosi is a GP in Surf Beach and member of Doctors for the Environment
