Senior citizens 65 years of age and older are more prone than younger people to heat stress, for several reasons:
- Older people often do not adjust well to sudden changes in temperature.
- Seniors are more likely to have a chronic medical condition that interferes with normal body responses to heat.
- Older people are more likely to take prescription medications that impair the body's ability to regulate temperature or that inhibit perspiration.
How to help protect older relatives and neighbors
- Check in on older adults who are at risk. Visit at least twice a day, if possible.
- If they have no air-conditioning, provide access to an electric fan.
- Take them to air-conditioned locations if they don't have transportation.
How to help someone with heat-related illness
Heat-related illness can be a life-threatening emergency. If you see evidence of heat related illness symptoms, call 911 for immediate medical assistance while you begin cooling the affected person. Here are steps you can take to help:
- Get the person to a shaded or air-conditioned area.
- Cool the person rapidly using any methods available. You can immerse the person in cool water in a tub or shower; spray the person with cool water from a garden hose; or, in low-humidity conditions, wrap the person in a cool, wet sheet and fan him or her vigorously.
- Monitor the person's body temperature, and continue cooling efforts until the body temperature drops to 102 degrees or less.
- If emergency response personnel are delayed, call a local hospital emergency room for further instructions.
- Do not give the person alcohol to drink.
