As the written plan indicated, a MCPHD epidemiologist checked ESSENCE every 3 hours and sent updated numbers to the Emergency Operations Center three times a day via e-mail. The query used the following terms: 'ˆheatˆ, or,ˆdehydˆ,or,ˆhotˆ,andnot,ˆgunshotˆ'. This is one of several pieces of information used to guide decision making when considering opening additional cooling centers and creating press releases for the public.