By Dianne Anderson

If the thermostat appears a lot hotter than usual, it’s not a mirage.

Scientists are looking to tag this year as the hottest year ever recorded for planet Earth.

It’s likely not the last debilitating heatwave in the IE, but making it out to cooling centers may be harder for some than for others.

Low-income housebound elderly without transportation can get stuck in hot houses, easily pushing 90 degrees.  The next stop is the emergency room.

Mark Annas, emergency manager for the city of Riverside, deals with disasters in general, and said that low-income seniors are at greater risk.

“It’s one of the largest killers of all natural hazards in the United States, but it’s also a sneaky and silent killer. It often is a compounded issue with other health related things, especially with what the elderly are dealing with,” he said.

Recently, he saw the impact in action. His elderly parents in Houston have health issues, and without power for three days. Told that it would be as long as one week, they fortunately moved to a hotel with power, but not everyone has that luxury.

“It takes everyone to help out when we have these heat waves, checking in on our vulnerable and our neighbors. It’s not enough to call, especially your low income elderly, their air conditioner may work, but they may not turn it on,” said Annas, City of Riverside Fire Department, Office of Emergency Management.

They may use cooling savings to pay rent or buy medication.

Riverside Public Utilities and Riverside County Community Action Partnership, programs offer weatherization and utility assistance programs for low income residents, along with rebates for middle and upper income earners. Income-qualified programs also help with utility assistance and weatherization, including increasing appliance efficiency to save money.

He said the city uses several types of resources and takes a layered approach to fill gaps of need.  There are 17 cooling centers, with about 70 cooling centers countywide. Dial A Ride can get the community to designated cooling centers in the libraries, senior centers and community centers. Meals on Wheels checks up on homebound seniors when they deliver food.

Riverside Public Utilities also offers rebate programs and assistance with SHARE, and LIHEAP, administered by Riverside County Community Action Partnership helps cover low income energy utility assistance and weatherization.

Yet another assistance program, ESAP of Riverside Public Utilities, offers Air conditioning tune-ups, house insulation, and whole house fans, along with various weatherization options. Each county is different, but he said they recently attended a national heat summit in Chicago, where the takeaway was, compared to some other states, their layered programming approach was a hit.

“We’re a step ahead. There are some things we can continually have outreach to make these programs more successful. From what I gather not everyone has these weatherization programs,” he said.

According to the CDC and other reports, Blacks in California suffer the greatest impact of heat-related death and sickness. With one category exception with at-risk Native Americans, Blacks were most at risk of death by heat. Those over 65 years in each area of the state also suffered the most risk of death.

The Public Policy Institute of California reports that “Black Californians have the highest heat-related mortality rate among all race categories, which is 1.5 times higher than the average.  Elderly people are 2.5 times more likely than the general population to die from extreme heat. During the 2022 heat waves in Los Angeles County, people without secure housing were more than 50 times more likely to die a heat-related death than the general population.

Blacks also comprise a greater percentage of low income elderly and the homeless population.

In  San Bernardino city, other organizations also help seniors with transportation and financial assistance options of low-cost Access, low or no-cost OmniTrans, and free bus passes through IEHP insurance and Department of Aging & Adult Services.

Michael Schicora, Aquatics & Risk Manager for San Bernardino City, said several programs check in with homebound seniors, including the Senior Companion Program with visits two to three times a week.

“This program has volunteers that go to the seniors’ homes to deliver meals, take seniors to the market or Doctors appointments, and in many cases to the Senior Centers for programming. During these visits, seniors are checked in on, and have the opportunity if they wish to engage in conversation or sometimes activities,” Schicora said in an email.

Yet another recent report, the California Department of Insurance finds that extreme heat leads to increased hospitalizations and emergency visits for several heat-related conditions, including kidney failure, respiratory ailments, mental health, and stroke. Increases have been observed for both adults and children during these events.

Over 5,000 hospitalizations and nearly 10,600 emergency department visits related to extreme heat events were assessed in this study.

“For the largest extreme heat event the majority of both hospitalizations and ED visits involved non-white, non-Hispanic residents. Fewer than 30 percent of those affected had private insurance (less than 17 percent for hospitalizations) and Medi-cal and Medicare comprise between 60 and 79 percent of these patients,” the report said.

But, it’s hard to tell how low income communities of color are being impacted, according to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office.

They report the state does not currently have a surveillance system for monitoring real-time health effects of extreme heat in California, including when and where heat-related deaths and injuries occur.

“Health outcomes—such as deaths and emergency room visits—are not collected in real time, and the official data likely underestimate the number of deaths related to extreme heat,” the report said.

San Bernardino County Health Officer Dr. Michael Sequeira issued a heat advisory on the recent heatwave, urging the public to take all necessary precautions.

“The summer heat can be dangerous, and everyone should take the right steps to stay safe. Heat-related illnesses like heat exhaustion and heat stroke can be very serious, especially for those who are more vulnerable,” Sequeira said.

To learn more:

About San Bernardino Community Action Partnership Programs, seehttps://capriverside.org/

For Riverside Cool Centers and Heat Information
https://riversideca.gov/readyriverside/be-informed/hazards/extreme-heat

CA Department of Public Health Resources, https://bit.ly/3zyKR35

Riverside Cool Centers,https://bit.ly/3xVzUYY

To see the CDC Heat Tracker,
https://ephtracking.cdc.gov/Applications/heatTracker/