Thursday, 4:30 PM
Heat wave prompts concern for elderly
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Correspondent
As what may be the most intense heat wave in a decade smothers Boston over the next two days, officials are reaching out to the city’s estimated 79,000 elderly, hunting for shut-ins and others vulnerable to the humidity and high temperatures.
Eliza Greenberg, the Commissioner on Affairs of the Elderly, said this afternoon that outreach workers are asking city dwellers to pull together to protect seniors they same way they would in the winter during a blizzard.
“Except instead of offering to shovel your neighbor’s walk, we are asking people to knock on doors and make sure they are alright,” Greenberg said. “You basically can not be too vigilant.”
A high pressure dome is expected to pull heavy, 100-degree air out of the Midwest and bake New England in a sticky sauna. Meteorologist Bill Simpson said the heat index – the combination of the temperature and humidity – could pass 105. Early Tuesday, the mercury is expected to begin climbing and just keep going.
“By late (Tuesday) morning it is going to start getting particularly uncomfortable,” said Simpson of the National Weather Service in Taunton.
Temperatures are expected to remain high overnight and peak on Wednesday, said Simpson, eying the August 2-record-high for Boston of 102 degrees, set in 1975.
“It will probably be a little short of that, but it could be close,” Simpson said.
Coupled with a thick blanket of humidity, the high temperatures can render the human body’s natural cooling process useless, leaving people subject to exhaustion and heat stroke, Simpson said. For the elderly, that can be deadly.
In Boston, the highest concentrations of people over age 65 are in Chinatown, Roslindale, West Roxbury and parts of South and East Boston, according to the US Census.
City outreach workers began on Saturday, when they blasted 38,000 seniors with automated phone calls warning about the heat. Flyers have gone out to the city’s 1,500 Meals on Wheels clients and with nurses making well-being checks in apartment complexes and at bingo halls, Greenberg said.
They have been urging the elderly to get water and other supplies before the heat hits, to wear loose fitting clothes and drink lots of water. Mayor Thomas M. Menino declared a heat emergency, extending the hours at city pools to 9 p.m. and opening dozens of air-conditioned cooling centers stocked with water and snacks.
The problem, Greenberg said, is getting through to those seniors for who they do have contact information who are the most vulnerable because they are often overlooked.
“We are asking people to be our eyes and ears,” said Greenberg, urging people to contact city officials.
Residents can call the Elderly Commission at 617-635-4366 or the mayor’s hotline at 617-635-4500.
