July 29, 2026
Introducing Our Heat, Health, & Homelessness Community Learning Series
As summer temperatures continue to rise across New Mexico, so do the health risks facing our community—especially for people experiencing homelessness.
Extreme heat is more than an inconvenience. It is a public health emergency that increases the risk of dehydration, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, worsening chronic illness, and even death. As our climate changes, understanding these impacts and working together to build healthier, more resilient communities has never been more important.
That’s why Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless is excited to launch our new Heat, Health, & Homelessness Community Learning Series, a community forum designed to bring together public health professionals, students, health care providers, environmental advocates, service organizations, and community members for thoughtful discussions about climate, health, and equity.
We’re grateful to Flock of Moons Brewing Company for partnering with us to host this series and for creating a welcoming space where our community can gather, connect, and learn together.
Heat & Homeless Mortality: A Community Conversation About a Preventable Public Health Crisis
What if one of the greatest threats to health isn’t a disease—but the absence of housing?
As New Mexico experiences hotter summers and more frequent extreme heat events, we’re being challenged to think differently about homelessness—not simply as a housing issue, but as a public health crisis.
People experiencing homelessness die years—even decades—earlier than the general population. Many of these deaths are preventable. As climate change accelerates and extreme heat becomes more common, the risks continue to grow, making the need for action more urgent than ever.
That’s why Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless invites you to join us for the second installment of our Heat, Health, & Homelessness Community Learning Series.
Session Two: Heat & Homeless Mortality
Thursday, August 20
6:00–7:30 p.m.
Flock of Moons Brewing Company
We’ll begin the evening with a casual mix-and-mingle before diving into a conversation about one of the most urgent—and often overlooked—public health challenges facing our communities.
Featured Speaker
We’re pleased to welcome Rachel Biggs, Chief Executive Officer of Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless, as our featured speaker.
In addition to leading AHCH, Rachel serves as the Chair for the National Homeless Mortality Task Force, convened by the National Health Care for the Homeless Council. Working alongside experts from across the country, the task force is advancing efforts to better understand why people experiencing homelessness die at disproportionately high rates—and what communities can do to prevent those deaths.
Rachel will share national perspectives alongside local realities, helping us explore why mortality among people experiencing homelessness is not inevitable. It is shaped by the systems we build, the policies we choose, and the investments we make in our communities.
Later Rachel will be joined by our panelists who will offer a Health Care for the Homeless outreach perspective!
Liz Parsons, RN, BSN
Liz is a Community Health Nurse at First Nations Community HealthSource in Albuquerque, where she provides medical outreach through the organization’s mobile health unit in partnership with community organizations across Albuquerque and rural New Mexico. She also supports nurse triage, care coordination, and childhood vaccinations.
Prior to joining First Nations Community HealthSource, Liz worked as a medical-surgical nurse in hospital settings, including as a travel nurse across a variety of locations and care settings, as well as a public health nurse at a state health department. She is passionate about meeting patients where they are and reducing barriers to care.
Oakley Quinn Blasdel, RN-BSN, CARN
Oakley is a staff nurse at Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless, providing trauma-informed care through street medicine, clinic triage, nurse-led outreach, medication management, and Suboxone treatment. She is also AHCH’s Community Health Worker Coordinator, supporting four CHWs in community education and care coordination.
Oakley is a Certified Addictions Registered Nurse and Certified Community Health Worker, with additional certifications in HIV, HCV, and syphilis counseling and testing. She brings more than a decade of correctional and community-based nursing experience, including clinical leadership, nursing operations, and care coordination. She is passionate about supporting people with complex medical and social needs and meeting clients where they are.
More Than Heat
Extreme heat is one of the deadliest weather-related hazards in the United States, but its impacts are not felt equally.
Without reliable access to shelter, water, cooling, healthcare, or transportation, many people experiencing homelessness face risks that most of us never have to consider. These challenges don’t exist in isolation—they intersect with chronic illness, behavioral health, aging, poverty, and other structural barriers that contribute to dramatically shorter life expectancy.
This conversation will explore how heat magnifies those risks, why homelessness itself should be understood as a public health emergency, and what it will take to change that reality.
A Conversation About Action
This isn’t just a discussion about the challenges we face—it’s about what’s possible.
Together, we’ll examine how healthcare, public health, housing, emergency response, outreach, and community partnerships can work together to reduce preventable deaths and build healthier, more resilient communities.
Whether you’re a healthcare provider, student, policymaker, outreach worker, researcher, advocate, or community member, you’ll leave with a deeper understanding of the issues—and new ideas for how you can be part of the solution.
Join the Conversation
Our Community Learning Series is about more than education. It’s about building a community of people who are ready to ask difficult questions, challenge assumptions, and work together to create lasting change.
We hope you’ll join us on Thursday, August 20, as we continue the conversation about climate, health, homelessness, and the collective action needed to ensure that where someone sleeps at night doesn’t determine whether they survive the summer.
