With heat and humidity climbing in the Historic Triangle, you might find yourself cranking the air conditioner.
You also might want to check on an elderly neighbor or relative, since they’re susceptible to a range of illnesses that heat waves can trigger, including heat stroke.
“Older people die [in heat],” said Michael Deschenes, chair and professor of integrated health sciences at the College of William & Mary. “It’s really life or death.”
Williamsburg has 13,681 residents who are age 65 or older, according to the 2010 census.
Older residents are candidates for heat-related illnesses for a number of reasons, Deschanes said.
For one, older people are slower to pick up on cues that their core temperature is increasing, according to Deschenes. That’s means they’re slower to respond with steps like fanning themselves.
“They just don’t know they’re getting warmer on the inside,” added Deschenes. “So they just don’t take the measures you and I would.”
Also, the body cools itself by sweating and by increasing blood flow to the skin, but in older people, those mechanisms are not as fast and efficient, Deschenes said.
Statewide data sheds some light on the phenomenon.
During the weekend of Aug. 13-14, 2016, for example, there were 154 emergency room and urgent-care visits statewide related to heat exposure, heat exhaustion, heat stroke or heat cramps, according to the Virginia Department of Health’s website.
The largest number of those visits – 32 or 21 percent of the total – came from adults between the ages of 50 and 59.
Adults between the ages of 60 and 69 accounted for 26 of those visits, or 17 percent. In other words, adults aged 50-69 were more than a third — 38 percent — of all heat-related ER visitors that weekend.
By contrast, children and adolescents aged 10-19 logged 14 visits that weekend, or 9 percent overall.
Regardless of your age, experts recommend basic precautions to deal with summer swelter.
“When there’s a great deal of heat, it’s more than appropriate to check on our older neighbors,” said Kevin Pearce, emergency coordinator for the Peninsula Health District.
Also, keep tabs on children and make sure they’re drinking enough water; and if you’re thinking of heading out into the heat to exercise, slow down your pace or consider working out inside, Deschenes said.
“Don’t fight Mother Nature,” he added. “You’re not going to win.”
For more information about preventing heat-related illnesses, check this fact sheet from the American Red Cross, available on the website for the Department of Health, and visit the website for the Centers for Disease Control.
