(Black PR Wire) Florida Clinicians for Climate Action, the leading organization for climate and health advocacy and education in Florida, is the recipient of a $40,000 Climate Justice & Care for Creation Grant from Allegany Franciscan Ministries. The funding will go toward educating the public and informing clinicians on the health impacts of climate change through a forthcoming program called “Putting a Chill on Extreme Heat - Educating Clinicians, Informing the Public.”

“We are proud to partner with Allegany Franciscan Ministries in our joint mission to ensure that all communities are prepared for the complex and multifaceted impacts of the climate crisis”, said FCCA Executive Director, Cheryl Holder, MD. The funding will support outreach throughout the East Central Florida/Orlando area to educate communities and clinicians about the increased risk of heat-related illness in that area.

In her email announcing the award, Allegany Franciscan Ministries President and CEO Eileen S. Coogan wrote, “our partnership with Florida Clinicians for Climate Action reflects our shared commitment to fostering healthier, safer, and more connected communities where everyone has the resources, supports, and opportunities necessary to thrive in the face of multiple risks, uncertainty and threats caused by climate change.”

FCCA Board President, Shauna Junco, PharmD, said she was thrilled FCCA now has the resources to bring the successful work it has done in Miami Dade to the East Central Florida/Orlando area. “Without awareness, education, and basic practices in place, extreme heat is very dangerous; with them, it is preventable. As climate change continues to increase the heat we see throughout Florida, it is more important than ever to prepare communities for the heat, and to create a dialogue regarding the health benefits of climate solutions. Thanks to Allegany Franciscan Ministries, we can now start that work in Central Florida.”

Florida Clinicians for Climate Action was formed in January of 2018 at the Florida Climate & Health Equity Symposium, which was a collaboration between the National Medical Association, the W. Montague Cobb/NMA Health Institute, the Florida state chapter of the National Medical Association and The Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health. The organization is operated by clinicians and exists as a first stop for anyone seeking to work at the intersection of climate and health in Florida.