Extreme heat: more than twenty deaths in Ticino, ER under pressure

Cristina Milani, from Lugano, does not fit any of the categories usually considered at risk from heat. She is not elderly, has no chronic illness, and does not work outdoors. Yet on a Saturday afternoon in the middle of summer, she fell ill while shopping at the Migros in Savosa: cramps, chills, difficulty standing, then fainting. The store manager came to her aid and called an ambulance. At the emergency room of Lugano's Ospedale Civico, the diagnosis was heat stroke with severe dehydration.

Her case disproves a common idea on social media, according to which only elderly, obese, or unhealthy people fall ill from the heat. Specialists confirm that the most exposed groups remain the elderly, young children, people with chronic illnesses, those who work outdoors or under physical strain, and pregnant women. But extreme heat can affect anyone.

Data collected by the Ente ospedaliero cantonale (EOC) this summer point to a clear worsening: according to estimates, more than twenty deaths in Ticino are linked to the heat waves.

Emergency rooms under pressure since late May

The rise in admissions is also weighing on hospital staff. "We are seeing an increase in heat-related emergency room admissions," says Alessandro Jessula, head of the emergency department at the Civico. The strain, he says, has been continuous since the end of May and is wearing out staff too: not everyone has air conditioning at home, and recovering energy at night is not easy even for hospital workers.

The highest price is often paid by workers exposed to the sun for hours: construction workers, people on scaffolding or on the streets, but also restaurant staff, in kitchens and on terraces. Heat-related conditions range from muscle cramps to heat exhaustion, up to heat stroke itself, a medical emergency that can cause irreversible neurological damage or death if not treated in time.

According to Roberta Petrino, head physician of the Civico's emergency department, it is not yet possible to speak of a true emergency, because the situation remains manageable. There is, however, growing concern, both for patients forced to limit their outdoor activities in summer and for the years ahead: temperatures, she warns, are set to rise further.

Petrino calls for responses that go beyond medicine: rest and cooling areas, and cities designed to prevent heat-related illness. EOC data is already being passed on to the Dipartimento della sanità e della socialità (the health and social affairs department) as a basis for targeted policies. Citizens are left with hydration and common sense, but the greater responsibility, doctors stress, now lies with urban planning and cantonal politics.