Wildfire smoke can cause a range of health problems including trouble breathing, coughing , headaches, chest pain.
Children, pregnant women, older adults, those with asthma, heart disease and other chronic illnesses are especially vulnerable to these health impacts.
Precautions to Avoid Negative Health Outcomes
These include: staying indoors (if possible), limiting outdoor physical activity (such as running, walking, bicycling, sports), closing windows at home, using an indoor air filter, keeping windows closed while driving and wearing a N95 or N100 rated filtration mask (available at hardware home repair stores).
Smoke from wildfires increases health risks for sensitive groups, including children and babies, especially those who also have asthma or other health conditions. Pregnant women, people over 65, and those who have heart, lung and other health conditions are also at higher risk.
Please check Puget Sound Clean Air Agency website frequently for updates on air quality. Air quality can change quickly, depending on the wind.
Breathing smoky air can cause a wide range of symptoms from watery eyes and coughing to chest pain and asthma attacks. If you or someone you know is experiencing serious symptoms, contact your healthcare provider, or call 911 if these symptoms become life-threatening.
Recommendations from Washington State Department of Health
Close windows and doors as much as possible. Use fans or an air conditioner (AC) when it is hot, and set your AC to recirculate. If you do not have AC and it is too hot to stay home, go to a place with AC such as a mall, library, or community center in your city.
Everyone should stay indoors and avoid strenuous physical activities outside.
Keep indoor air clean.
Don’t add to indoor air pollution. Don’t use candles, food boilers, incense, or gas stoves.
Don’t vacuum as vacuuming stirs up additional particles into the air.
Use an air cleaner with a HEPA filter,but do not use an air cleaner that produces ozone.
Consider creating your own air purifier with a box fan if you cannot afford an air cleaner.
Make sure everyone drinks plenty of water.
Information flyers in 10 languages
Resources for everyone as well as specific information for people who are especially sensitive to smoke (English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Punjabi, Russian, Somali, Tagalog, Ukrainian, Vietnamese)
In 2009 the outbreak of disease in people caused by a new influenza virus of swine origin (H1N1) became a pandemic globally. In 2010, the World Health Organization declared an end to the pandemic, but expect that the H1N1 virus will continue to spread for years to come, like a regular seasonal influenza virus. The following resources were developed as a response to the 2009 outbreak.
Influenza Fact Sheets available in Chinese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Somali and Vietnamese.
Preparedness comic book - Pandemic Flu Targeting readers of all ages, this story tells the tale of a family’s experience with the 1918 influenza pandemic. It also explains what to expect in a severe pandemic and offers tips to help households prepare. The comic book is available online in PDF format and free hard copies are available to order. Available in 23 languages.
Swine Flu (H1N1)
In 2009, a new influenza virus of swine origin circulated in the United States and internationally. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the H1N1 virus that caused that pandemic is now a regular human flu virus that continues to circulate seasonally worldwide. The current flu vaccine provides protection against the H1N1 strain.
For more information about this flu, please see the CDC website .
Harborview Medical Center – Swine Flu Videos
In an effort to reach the immigrant and refugee populations during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, some video resources were created to provide information in languages other than English. These videos were done by Harborview Medical Center and narrated by medical interpreters at HMC. These videos are provided for reference purposes and they are approximately 5-7 minutes in length (see sidebar).
The following is the English translation for the Swine Flu videos:
Hello I’m ________, an interpreter here at Harborview,
Many of you are aware there is a new cough/illness that people are talking about and calling “swine-flu” and sometimes “H1N1″. You may be confused about this and we want to tell you a few key points.”
For those of you who avoid pork and pork products the name seems misleading. This flu has nothing to do with contact with pigs. You cannot get this from eating pork. The virus normally infects pigs, but somehow changed and was able to infect people. That is why it carries that name.
The sickness is caused by a virus that is very similar to the regular flu and often difficult to distinguish. The person can have cough, sneezing, sore throat, fevers, chills, and in some case nausea and vomiting or diarrhea. If you have these symptoms it could be swine flu or it might be regular flu or even just be a bad cold. The only way to tell is to do special tests, but not everyone needs these.
The infection is passed from person to person by coughing, sneezing and breathing in the virus. You could also spread it by getting it on your hands and touching your mouth or nose or eyes without realizing it. Therefore, washing your hands and covering your cough are the most important things you can do to prevent getting sick or giving it to your family and friends.
This can not be emphasized enough. Tell your family and friends to:
wash hands frequently
cover their mouths when coughing and sneezing or cough into your elbow like this,
keep sputum in tissues and in the trash,
keep sick family in rooms away from others. Especially keep sick people away from babies, old people, and people who are chronically ill.
Theses are the reasons to come to see the doctor:
If you are having trouble breathing
If you have a cough and a high fever
If you are extremely, unusually tired
If you are unable to eat food or liquids without throwing up or having diarrhea
These symptoms are most dangerous to people over 65 or people who have diabetes, kidney, liver or other medical problems.
It is very important that you do not come to see your doctor for an unscheduled appointment unless you are seriously ill. If many people who are not seriously ill come to the doctor, the doctor will not have the time she needs to take care of very sick patients.
In order to protect you and others when you come to clinic, we would ask you to do the following things:
If you have a cough now, identify yourself to the front desk and put on a mask.
You will be asked to have your temperature taken quickly. Please let the staff known if you have been feverish at home.
Please do not be offended if you are asked to sit in isolation until we can evaluate you thoroughly.
We do not treat mild cases or cases that have been ongoing for several days. In this case we may give you medicine for comfort and then ask you to go home and stay as isolated as possible to allow your body to recover. Return only if you are unable to eat or drink, are having difficulty breathing, or are very ill.
Make sure we have a current phone number or means of contacting you so that we can tell you your test results or other information you need to know.
Send family or a designated friend to get you refills and Tylenol.
Most cases of swine flu in this country have been mild, and if we are careful we can limit the spread.
Thanks for your attention.
Related Websites with Translated Swine Flu Resources
Pages developed with nurses and interpreters to aid caregivers in communicating basic information to their patients. Use of the pages requires no prior knowledge of the patient’s language, but requires that a patient be able to read and point to a written response.
These pages are not meant to be a substitute for using a qualified interpreter.Rather, they are a basic communication aid for nurses providing comfort and care to patients. For more complex communication needs, always use an interpreter.
The Greek and Polish translations have not been reviewed. Thanks to Camelia Ades, RN, MSN, MPH for contributing the Romanian translation
This booklet gives information about child spacing, its benefits, and methods that women and men can use if they would like to have a few years between the birth of each baby. It was originally produced by the Neighborhood Health Care Network in 1999 and updated in 2004, 2008 and 2013 by WellShare International.
The resources in the sidebar are selected pages taken from the full booklet. Each title is a 2-3 page PDF with information in English and Somali.
Funding for the distribution and revision of this booklet is made possible by the Somali Child Spacing Program, with funding from the Minnesota Department of Health – Family Planning Special Projects (FPSP). The initial development of the booklet was funded by the Minneapolis Department of Health and Family Support (Family Planning Services).
This booklet gives information about child spacing, its benefits, and methods that women and men can use if they would like to have a few years between the birth of each baby. It was originally produced by the Neighborhood Health Care Network in 1999 and updated in 2004, 2008 and 2013 by WellShare International.
The resources in the sidebar are selected pages taken from the full booklet. Each title is a 2-3 page PDF with information in English and Somali.
Funding for the distribution and revision of this booklet is made possible by the Somali Child Spacing Program, with funding from the Minnesota Department of Health – Family Planning Special Projects (FPSP). The initial development of the booklet was funded by the Minneapolis Department of Health and Family Support (Family Planning Services).
This booklet gives information about child spacing, its benefits, and methods that women and men can use if they would like to have a few years between the birth of each baby. It was originally produced by the Neighborhood Health Care Network in 1999 and updated in 2004, 2008 and 2013 by WellShare International.
The resources in the sidebar are selected pages taken from the full booklet. Each title is a 2-3 page PDF with information in English and Somali.
Funding for the distribution and revision of this booklet is made possible by the Somali Child Spacing Program, with funding from the Minnesota Department of Health – Family Planning Special Projects (FPSP). The initial development of the booklet was funded by the Minneapolis Department of Health and Family Support (Family Planning Services).
Reach Coalition is a public health effort funded by CDC to reduce diabetes health disparities experienced by communities of color. They translated healthy meal planning information into several languages.
This project is now over, but the meal planning pages are available in the following languages: Chinese, Khmer (Cambodian), Korean, Filipino, Japanese, Samoan, Somali and Vietnamese.
Women-Only Fitness is a culturally appropriate fitness class tailored to meet the needs Somali women in Tukwila, WA, who would not otherwise have a safe and comfortable space to exercise and work out together. It started as a fitness class but has become a community.
NOTE: Women-Only Fitness is on hold due to COVID-19 restrictions, but the Tukwila Community Center plans to reinstate it in the future.
These stroke materials (PDFs in sidebar) are images and text conveying symptoms of stroke (FAST:Facial, Arm, Speech, Time) and encouragement to call 911. They are available in Amharic (Ethiopian), Khmer (Cambodian), Somali, Tigrinya and Vietnamese (with English translation provided for each one).
The Stroke Symptoms FAST poster is formatted for printing 8 1/2 x 11″ size with target language/English.
The Stroke Symptoms FAST cards are images and text formatted for printing small 2-sided cards in target language/English, to be used in clinic or patient handouts.
This 18-minute video slideshow presentation, narrated in Somali with optional English subtitles, is intended to be used by clinicians during discussion with patients about mammograms and breast cancer. It is culturally tailored to reflect common questions and concerns, with a focus on addressing major barriers to screening. It includes images of the various stages of the mammogram process and signs/symptoms of breast cancer.
Along with the presentation is the English/Somali transcript and a Provider Guide (see sidebar), giving more details on slideshow features, themes, and insights.
This slideshow presentation is intended to be used by clinicians during discussion with patients about carbohydrates and blood glucose. It is culturally tailored to reflect foods commonly consumed by Somali Americans and includes photos of foods, meal comparisons, and portion sizes, also with some information about managing diabetes during Ramadan.
PDF (93 slides) and YouTube video link available in sidebar.
Harborview Medical Center (HMC) physician Dr. Carey Jackson identified a need for culturally-tailored visual references tools to use during conversations with diabetic patients about food choices.
Methods
Dr. Jocelyn James and Yetta Levine at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, WA, created this tool in consultation with Harborview registered dietitians Karen Conger and Lisa Messerli. Cultural guidance was provided by Somali caseworker / cultural mediator Anab Abdullahi and Somali interpreters Ashwaq Mohamed and Mohamed Hashi.
Funding for this education was provided by the Pacific Hospital Preservation and Development Authority.
