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Hurricane season is upon us again and we can’t forget the tragedies of last year when fourteen elderly patients died in a nursing home in South Florida. These deaths were heat related when the nursing home lost power, air-conditioning and had no back up plan. We’d all like to think this kind of tragedy can’t happen where we live, but we’d be mistaken. All we have to do is look at the number of elderly deaths nationwide due to heat stroke during heat waves and other natural disasters such as the wildfires in California and Greece. According to the CDC, during an extreme heat event in Chicago during the summer of 1995, 514 deaths occurred, many being elderly. In the heat wave of 2003 throughout Europe, an estimated 70,000 deaths occurred! Elderly are especially vulnerable, even more so if they live alone.
With climate change, we can expect more power outages and an increase in elderly deaths. Temperatures are soaring across the nation, far beyond “normal,” and the daily headlines are full of news on heat waves globally. Cities across the United States have developed interventions targeting the elderly and have “heat response plans”. These include education about who is a heat exposure risk and coordinated services between public health officials and emergency management personnel.
In most counties there are online registration programs, including the one where I live, the Alachua County Emergency Management site, that are very helpful. These websites allow people with special needs who live alone or need a daily caregiver to register for assistance, if they qualify. This includes help with transportation to shelters or “cooling stations” for those who do not drive or have no means to help them in emergencies. If you identify people that would benefit from this kind of help contact your local emergency preparedness coordinator and see what is available. This is an easy thing to do to help neighbors and family members who are aging.
No matter how good any program is, there is no substitute for neighbors helping neighbors. Is there someone in your neighborhood who lives alone and is at risk? Someone in your apartment complex? When the power goes out and the temperature is 90+ degrees for a few days, a personal visit could save a life. A fan and extra water could make a difference. Introduce yourself to an at-risk senior (lives alone, in poor health, no family nearby) and find out if she or he has an emergency plan or emergency kit with extra water, food, medications, and flashlights. There are excellent lists provided by the city and county websites for complete emergency kits. If where you live has a neighborhood association, ask the board about identifying seniors at risk. Why not ask your congregation, synagogue or service organization to make a list of those within your community who may need help in an emergency? Many states have started a “Check Your Neighbor” program. Let’s start a grassroots program and encourage city officials to adopt it! After all, it is people helping people who always make the difference.
Star Bradbury
Senior Living Strategies, LLC.