Just a Quick PSA on the Heat

[Northern Light]

A reminder to everyone to check on vulnerable people you may know who lack air conditioning or are otherwise vulnerable.

I don't normally post this sort of message, let alone start a thread for it.........

But I encountered an elderly neighbour on the sidewalk 90 minutes ago who was suffering greatly from the heat.......
He was sufficiently ill, including cardiac symptoms, I immediately drove him to Emerg at a nearby hospital, and made sure he got to Triage and they understood his condition.

The sustained heat is unpleasant even for many of us with a/c.
For those without, especially the elderly or those who are ill of health to be begin with can literally be fatal!

 

[Towered]

A reminder to everyone to check on vulnerable people you may know who lack air conditioning or are otherwise vulnerable.

I don't normally post this sort of message, let alone start a thread for it.........

But I encountered an elderly neighbour on the sidewalk 90 minutes ago who was suffering greatly from the heat.......
He was sufficiently ill, including cardiac symptoms, I immediately drove him to Emerg at a nearby hospital, and made sure he got to Triage and they understood his condition.

The sustained heat is unpleasant even for many of us with a/c.
For those without, especially the elderly or those who are ill of health to be begin with can literally be fatal!

As per Murphy's Law, the HVAC system in the building where I work has been broken for a week now, making for unbearably sweltering conditions.

Kudos to you for your noble act in assisting your neighbour.

 

[Northern Light]

As per Murphy's Law, the HVAC system in the building where I work has been broken for a week now, making for unbearably sweltering conditions.

Kudos to you for your noble act in assisting your neighbour.

I would hope any of us would have done the same.

Initially, I was going to take him to a Cooling Centre, but when he mentioned heart issues............I thought better of it and decided he needed the hospital.

 

[afransen]

When Zellers was going out of business prior to the Target takeover, I remember popping in to a location to pick up a couple things. The A/C was not working for the store and half the lights were off. The staff had set up a bunch of fans to make the sweltering store more bearable. I remember thinking "You're not out of business yet!"

 

[gabe]

A reminder to everyone to check on vulnerable people you may know who lack air conditioning or are otherwise vulnerable.

I don't normally post this sort of message, let alone start a thread for it.........

But I encountered an elderly neighbour on the sidewalk 90 minutes ago who was suffering greatly from the heat.......
He was sufficiently ill, including cardiac symptoms, I immediately drove him to Emerg at a nearby hospital, and made sure he got to Triage and they understood his condition.

The sustained heat is unpleasant even for many of us with a/c.
For those without, especially the elderly or those who are ill of health to be begin with can literally be fatal!

People forget how dangerous heat can be. My 86 uncle got heat stroke last month. He went golfing on a hot humid day, got sick and spent 2 weeks in the hospital. Since then he has made a full recovery, and no longer golfs or gardens on hot days.

Also leaving dogs in hot cars can be fatal but walking dogs in heat can be just as dangerous.

 

[gabe]

As per Murphy's Law, the HVAC system in the building where I work has been broken for a week now, making for unbearably sweltering conditions.

Kudos to you for your noble act in assisting your neighbour.

We need stricter labour laws against crap like that. I worked in a windowless factory that had no AC. The heat was unbearable. The company gave us "heat breaks" which was sitting in the break area for 10 minutes, with a fan blowing hot air around.

There is no excuse for not keeping workers cool. Disney World and Las Vegas patio's have outdoor cooling systems that keep people cool. I have drank beer outside in 40 °C heat in Vegas on a patio that had an outdoor cooling system, it was comfortable..

 

[Northern Light]

People forget how dangerous heat can be. My 86 uncle got heat stroke last month. He went golfing on a hot humid day, got sick and spent 2 weeks in the hospital. Since then he has made a full recovery, and no longer golfs or gardens on hot days.

Also leaving dogs in hot cars can be fatal but walking dogs in heat can be just as dangerous.

Glad to hear your uncle has made a full recovery.

 

[Towered]

People forget how dangerous heat can be. My 86 uncle got heat stroke last month. He went golfing on a hot humid day, got sick and spent 2 weeks in the hospital. Since then he has made a full recovery, and no longer golfs or gardens on hot days.

Also leaving dogs in hot cars can be fatal but walking dogs in heat can be just as dangerous.

Years ago I found my mom passed out unresponsive on a couch after having done gardening on a blazing, humid day (and she's never been one to drink water, frustratingly). I called the ambulance and got her to the hospital where they put her on a drip and she was good as new within a couple of hours, but that experience really scared me.

 

[Towered]

We need stricter labour laws against crap like that. I worked in a windowless factory that had no AC. The heat was unbearable. The company gave us "heat breaks" which was sitting in the break area for 10 minutes, with a fan blowing hot air around.

There is no excuse for not keeping workers cool. Disney World and Las Vegas patio's have outdoor cooling systems that keep people cool. I have drank beer outside in 40 °C heat in Vegas on a patio that had an outdoor cooling system, it was comfortable..

Fortunately our company has reasonable management and has allowed many of the employees to leave work early every day because of the heat inside.

 

[lenaitch]

We need stricter labour laws against crap like that. I worked in a windowless factory that had no AC. The heat was unbearable. The company gave us "heat breaks" which was sitting in the break area for 10 minutes, with a fan blowing hot air around.

There is no excuse for not keeping workers cool. Disney World and Las Vegas patio's have outdoor cooling systems that keep people cool. I have drank beer outside in 40 °C heat in Vegas on a patio that had an outdoor cooling system, it was comfortable..

The difference is relative humidity or dew point, how ever you want to calculate it; i.e. 'it's a dry heat' I have been in Phoenix and, out of the direct sun in the high 30's (C) it was quite bearable. Right now in LV, the temperature is 41*C with a RH of 4% (and a 'feels like' of 33*C which seems so bizarre). The dew point, the temperature that would be required for a RH of 100% - where the air can no longer hold water as a gas - is minus 11*C.

Those outdoor cooling systems use evaporative cooling. A lot of people use evaporative coolers (i.e. 'swamp coolers') in their homes down there because they are cheaper to buy and operate. The downside is they need a constant supply of water which, someday, the US southwest might realize they have a bit of a problem with. I'm surprised Disney World uses external cooling, given Florida's generally high RH because it would be essentially hosing you down. At least they don't have the same water problems.

*****

I was surprised Ontario doesn't have hard and fast temperature rules for all workplaces. Back in the '80s our police association had to fund a study to convince the government that, without a/c, our vehicles were an unsafe work environment in the summer.

 

[gabe]

Glad to hear your uncle has made a full recovery.

Thanks, and think you for making this PSA.

My sister and her husband are visiting Toronto from Vancouver. Her husband is originally from California, so he knows hot weather, but this humidity is killing him. They went walking around the downtown for a few hours and had to go back to the hotel because of the humidity. I warned them, this ain't a dry heat like like California.

 

[gabe]

Years ago I found my mom passed out unresponsive on a couch after having done gardening on a blazing, humid day (and she's never been one to drink water, frustratingly). I called the ambulance and got her to the hospital where they put her on a drip and she was good as new within a couple of hours, but that experience really scared me.

Oh my god that's awful. I'm only in my 30s and i got sick from the heat about 4 years ago. Biking 40 mins or so home from work, on a hot humid afternoon, I only had one water bottle, which i drank in about 10 mins. I was so sick and dehydrated that night, i had to take a day off work to recover.