This month on the Loyola Street Medicine Podcast, join Dr. Heiferman, Emergency Medicine physician at Loyola University Medical Center and Stritch medical student, Anna Akkara, in discussing heat-related illnesses among the unhoused population. Dr. Heiferman has long been active in street medicine, volunteering with the Community Health Clinic while in college at Northwestern. From there, he went on to Rush Medical College where he continued to volunteer with Chicago's underserved population through health fairs and other mediums. At Loyola, Dr. Heiferman became heavily involved with The Night Ministry, Housing Forward, and Loyola Street Medicine. Now, he serves as a Forest Park CTA Blue Line Clinic preceptor, working with medical students to provide the best care possible for those most vulnerable in our society.
In today's episode, Dr. Heiferman details the types of heat-related illnesses, why unhoused patients are at higher risk for this kind of illness, how heat-related illnesses are diagnosed and treated, and the confounding factors that need to be considered when diagnosing and treating heat-related illnesses. Lastly, he gives our listeners some valuable advice on utilizing available resources and providing valuable education to patients which can help them avoid emergency room admission or re-admission.
Hope you enjoy the episode!
