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A major heat wave is expected to hit much of the eastern United States this week. And millions of people across the country are taking medications that may make them more susceptible to heat-related illnesses. Taking certain drugs — including some used to treat mental health conditions, high blood pressure and allergies — can make it even more difficult to stay hydrated or efficiently cool your body when it’s hot outside. Here’s what to know, and how to stay safe during scorching temperatures. (Mogg, 6/15)

Krystin Holmes, a licensed marriage and family therapist with the Harris Center for Mental Health, said a person’s mental health suffers when the heat prevents them from doing activities they normally would. “Mental health symptoms can become exacerbated from excessive heat,” Holmes said. “Sometimes people will isolate and stay indoors, not see their friends as much and skip activities just because of the severe heat.” (Nickerson, 6/15)

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said at least 15 people in nine states have been sickened with Salmonella linked to pet bearded dragons. Four people have required hospitalization, but no deaths have been reported. New York has reported four cases, Ohio and California have each reported three cases, and Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia have each reported a single case. (Soucheray, 6/14)

The personal information of more than 200,000 people in Los Angeles County was potentially exposed after a hacker used a phishing email to steal the login credentials of 53 public health employees, the county announced Friday. Details that were possibly accessed in the February data breach include the first and last names, dates of birth, diagnoses, prescription information, medical record numbers, health insurance information, Social Security numbers and other financial information of Department of Public Health clients, employees and other individuals. (Fry, 6/14)

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System is making a drastic change to one of its major health insurance plans for the state’s employees and retirees: It’s switching health insurance carriers, and forcing its new partners to earn their fees instead of automatically getting them. (Herman, 6/17)

A new law in Florida allowing doctors to perform cesarean sections in outpatient birthing centers has raised serious safety concerns among medical experts, who say the procedures carry a small but real risk of life-threatening complications and should not be undertaken outside hospitals. The proposed new facilities, to be called advanced birth centers, will not be able to rapidly mobilize extra staff, equipment and expertise should complications suddenly occur, as a hospital would, critics noted. (Rabin, 6/15)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Montana Creates Emergency ‘Drive-Thru’ Blood Pickup Service For Rural Ambulances

Crystal Hiwalker wonders if her heart and lungs would have kept working if the ambulance crew had been able to give her a transfusion as the blood drained from her body during a stormy, 100-mile ride. Because of the 2019 snowstorm, it took 2.5 hours to drive from her small town of Lame Deer, Montana, to the advanced trauma center in Billings. (Zionts, 6/17)

For hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops and their families, when the Pentagon orders them to find health care off base there is none. An NPR analysis found that 50% of active duty military installations stand within federally designated Healthcare Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA). Those are places where medical services are hard to find — commonly called “health care deserts.” (Lawrence, 6/17)