HELP is on its way: a strategy for building whole community resilience to severe heat at scale

Intensifying heatwaves projected for southern Australia compound the socioeconomic disadvantage and relative lack of infrastructure found in rural areas. In 2024 a consortium of 15 organisations serving three rural localities (10000-20000 residents each) commenced the locally-led adaptation Heatwave HELP (Health Emergency Local People) project to build resilience to severe heat. Tapping into patterns of social connectedness typical of smaller centres, more than 2000 people undertook training (HEAT SAFE) to understand heat harms to health, to identify, talk to and support a person at risk of heat harm to stay safe from severe heat when needed, and train others also. Process evaluation showed expansive engagement across each community over time with equity-focused practice ensuring reach with the most vulnerable. People applied their new knowledge about risks and simple safety strategies to their local individual or organisational context and acted to keep each other safe during two heatwaves in January 2026. Efforts ranged from civic, community and health agencies supporting people and patients to stay cool at home or in public air-conditioned spaces, to neighbours helping neighbours. Subsequent evaluation of hospital and ambulance data suggested change in previous patterns of health care demand on severe heat days. Local leaders have embraced the need to grow resilience into the future and sustain the model. Civic authorities, community hubs, hospitals, service clubs, volunteers and welfare agencies have variously embedded heat adaptation actions in business as usual including routine workflows, care giver training and into worker position descriptions. Importantly, the vast majority of effort was done using existing resources, with the greatest asset in our communities being the people themselves. The low-cost and low-tech approach underpins sustainability and holds promise to support preparedness and response to other climate and non-climate challenges ahead.

Key messages

• Increasingly frequent and severe heatwaves harm health and disrupt livelihoods, especially in rural Australia, necessitating low-cost low-tech scalable, sustainable climate change resilience solutions.

• The HeatwaveHELP project trained people in social, care, faith, sport, work, cultural and other networks to support family, friends, clients and acquaintances to stay safe from harm due to severe heat.