There has been an uptick in patients arriving at local urgent care and emergency rooms due to poor air quality from ongoing Canadian wildfires.
The heavy wildfire smoke is greatly impacting people with respiratory and cardiovascular conditions.
Dr. Laurie Dixon is the Medical Director of Trinity Health Livingston’s Emergency Department. She says the department has been seeing twice as many patients than usual for breathing issues.
“Oftentimes, these patients come in, they’re coughing and they’re wheezing. And very common treatments for that are nebulized albuterol, inhalers, and sometimes steroids to reduce that irritation and inflammation.”
Dixon says even people without underlying health conditions have been seeking treatment. She says staying indoors when possible and wearing an N95 mask if you must go outside can reduce the health risks from poor air quality.
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