What Marcos said in his second...

PAGE 3 disadvantaged neighborhoods where we not only see more heat-related illnesses but also more pollution and exacerbated chronic illnesses like asthma.”

Hence, life expectancy in wealthy areas with ample green space like Beverly Hills is as high as 90, while that in disadvantaged south LA neighborhoods less than 15 miles away is as low as 77.

Thus, she continued, when heat policies “coordinate with departments across the city, the county, and” — under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s historic $800 million Extreme Heat Action Plan — “the state, the result can be life-saving.” Nevertheless, CHOs remain rare. Segura is joined by only two in the nation — in Phoenix, Arizona and Miami, Florida — and seven worldwide.

However, she continued, it’s becoming a matter of course for cities to develop not only general climate plans, but also heat action plans. These are largely a matter of “short-term planning for public engagement and emergency response, and longterm planning for public health and resilient infrastructure,” she added.

The heart of her work as LA’s CHO, Segura said, is aligning climate equity gaps with public health results: “to treat one is to improve the other. We can see the results all over the world — if we have no plan, it’s only going to get hotter and hotter.” (Selen Ozturk/Ethnic Media Services)