charleston | Live Healthy S.C.

Here’s a look at health and environmental news from around South Carolina.

Midlands Deputies Use Narcan to Fight Opioid Epidemic

Kershaw County, SC (WLTX) – The opioid epidemic is becoming a major problem in our state and now one county’s deputies have a new tool that could save lives.

Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office deputies are being trained how to use Narcan, a life-saving opiate overdose antidote. …

“Police officers get to the area a lot earlier,” DHEC EMS Director Arnold Alier said of the importance of law enforcement officers having Narcan.

DHEC warns Myrtle Beach condo residents about rabies after multiple bat sighting

Myrtle Beach, S.C. (WPDE) — A letter was recently sent to residents at Magnolia North Condos, in Myrtle Beach, after multiple bat sightings were reported, including one incident where a bat was inside a condo.

The letter from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control says that on June 20th there was a report of a bat inside a condo and additional bat sightings have been reported over the past eight months around the complex.

General Interest

New warnings on sea rise

Downtown Charleston flooded on roughly one out of every seven days last year. That’s more than just a record-breaking number of tidal inundations, it’s an alarming warning of a much wetter future for the city.

It’s a call to action.

Maybe the 50 flooded days Charleston endured in 2016 represent an outlier. After all, the previous record, set in 2015, was 38 days. It was 11 in 2014.

By Dan Burger, Coastal Services Division Director, DHEC Ocean and Coastal Resource Management

On February 23, leaders from throughout the Charleston region attended a symposium hosted by the Charleston Resilience Network (CRN) and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). DHEC has provided leadership to establish the CRN, a new inter-governmental and cross-sector partnership working to align programs and foster a unified strategy that results in regional resilience to water-related hazards. The symposium, Understanding the October 2015 Floods, included panels of experts, leading professionals and elected officials in a facilitated discussion that examined the Charleston region’s resilience to tidal and storm-related flooding.

NAS Resilient America Roundtable member, Brigadier General (ret.) Dr. Gerry Galloway and I welcomed the audience and promoted the need for inter-governmental and cross-sector collaboration in the development of resilience strategies. Throughout the day, an engaging dialog took place among critical service providers, emergency responders, business leaders, disaster relief organizations and elected officials.

Charleston City Council Member Michael Seekings provides his perspective on resilience to the audience. Also pictured: moderator Dr. Gerry Galloway (left), Charleston Public Service Director Laura Cabiness and North Charleston City Council Member Rhonda Jerome.

Participants also learned about the meteorological conditions that led to the widespread flooding from the National Weather Service, tidal flooding projections from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and innovative flood mapping efforts from the College of Charleston, Lowcountry Hazards Center. A findings document from the symposium will be available this spring.

CRN will continue to build on this dialog as it engages stakeholders and works to enhance accessibility to flood hazard information, including planning and vulnerability assessment tools.

For more information on the Charleston Resilience Network, please visit:

www.scdhec.gov/HomeAndEnvironment/Water/CoastalManagement/CRN_network/

or http://www.charlestonresilience.net