Home-aid visit can be lifesaving heat check
Thanks to chronic lung disease, arthritis and a pair of hip replacements, just getting through the day can be challenging for Katherine Winn. So when the mercury shoots over 100 degrees before noon, things get pretty unpleasant for the 66-yearold Antioch resident.
The story is the same around the Bay Area, where a heat wave that came to a crescendo Thursday prompted public officials to focus on the most vulnerable, urging them to stay cool however possible. And, as is often the case, aid workers who deliver services to homes were on the front lines.
Winn’s apartment was one of hundreds of stops for a local crew of Meals on Wheels volunteers that knew tripledigit temperatures can be deadly for the clientele. The volunteers seek immediate help if a person appears ill — or if they don’t answer the door at all.
But Winn was doing OK when her guest arrived, even though the temperature was climbing toward a high of 106 in Antioch, tying it with Livermore as the region’s hottest spot.
“It’s miserable, but what can you do?” she said, sitting in front of a fan in her modest home. “I just stay in from outside.”
Every weekday, the team of Contra Costa County volunteers goes door-to-
door to bring food and to check in with their clients in one of the most consistently hot parts of the Bay Area. Many like Winn are low-income, have mobility issues and can’t afford basic needs, let alone an air conditioner and the electric bills that come with it.
“It isn’t just that it’s hot. It’s that many of our seniors are alone,” said Suzanna Meyer, a community engagement officer for the Meals on Wheels program called Senior Outreach Services. “In a case like this, our volunteer drivers are unfortunately way too often the only person our seniors see all day.”
No one has died from this heat wave in Contra Costa County, according to the coroner’s office, and volunteers delivering meals Thursday wanted to keep it that way. They knew that in Santa Clara County, a 72-year-old man and an 87-year-old woman died from heat-related illness Monday — four days into the weeklong furnace blast hitting the West Coast.
Winn lives with her daughter and calls herself a “24/7” because she needs round-theclock medical care. Most of her day is spent in bed watching “murder” on TV, she said, describing her favorite crime dramas. She got out of bed, though, when Denise Sandoval knocked on her door with her day’s meal: seafood Louie.
“Stay cool, OK?” Sandoval said during the brief stop, one of 12 for the day. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”
Next on her route was Jerry Moore, 77, who lives alone in a single-story apartment and uses a wheelchair. Unlike many of the residents served by Meals on Wheels, he has an air conditioner, but he was waiting until the hottest part of the day to turn it on.
“At least it’s a dry heat,” said Moore, who grew up in an orphanage in North Carolina and in 1958 hitchhiked to the Bay Area, where he’s lived ever since. As he spoke, his cat Baron came in and out the open front door, and the ceiling fan gently turned above him in his living room. He wore nothing but shorts.
“I’m from the South and worked the farms and fields,” he said. “Now, that heat was too much.”
For Moore and others with air conditioning, losing power during a heat wave is a big concern. More than 350,000 people around the Bay Area have experienced outages since Friday as Pacific Gas and Electric Co. crews scramble to deal with the extra demand on the system.
Earlier in the week, the power went out at Wilma Morgan’s home in Antioch, so the air conditioner she relies on went silent. At 94, Morgan uses a walker to get around the house, where she stays most of the day. Fortunately for the retired AC Transit bus driver, PG&E had the electricity back on in 38 minutes.
“For her that’s really concerning,” her 21-year-old grandson and caretaker, Tristan Morgan, said of the outage.
With Antioch projected to eclipse 100 degrees Thursday, many older residents — often those with better mobility — headed to the Antioch Senior Center to listen to live music, eat free meals, play games and hang out. The cooling center on West Second Street was a swinging scene with more than 100 people coming through the doors before noon.
Oakley resident Cleo Butler, the president of the Antioch Senior Citizens Club, said she comes to the center every day, regardless of the weather. But with no air conditioner at home, the 75-year-old was especially thankful for the facility.
“This helps people that don’t have anyone,” Butler said. “It’s sad. Some our our seniors don’t have people to check on them.”