When heat hits, check on neighbors

Do the neighborly thing. Check on your older friends, relatives and neighbors. It just might save their lives.

The summer of storms continues unabated.

Let’s take the good news first. The brutal heat wave, a cloak of heavy, humid hot air that hung over the region – and in fact much of the nation – for the past week, is over.

It was not the first hellish blast of the summer. It will not be the last.

And, of course, the bad news. It left a nasty calling card. A wicked series of storms rumbled across the southern part of our region late Monday afternoon and into Tuesday morning, leaving a path of destruction in its wake.

Some areas were hard hit, as high winds and driving, blinding rains took down trees and power lines.

At one point more than 30,000 people across the region were without power. Getting home proved an ordeal for many Monday night, as the downed trees shut off roads and brought down power lines, knocking out traffic lights in many spots and leaving homes in the dark.

And yet through all of that, we consider ourselves lucky.

Perhaps one person in particular has reason to give thanks, while offering a very good lesson for the rest of us to abide by during these kinds of brutal heat waves.

One story out of Upper Darby serves as reminder of one of the bromides we hear again and again when it comes to the battle against the elements, this time unrelenting heat:

Check on your neighbors, in particular the elderly, who are more susceptible to faltering in these kinds of extreme conditions.

A woman became concerned when she could not reach her friend of more than six decades. The woman was safe and sound in her assisted care facility, but her friend, a 94-year-old woman, still lived alone in her home.

When her persistent phone calls went unanswered, the concerned friend called police and asked them to check on her friend.

That simple good deed very likely saved the elderly woman’s life.

Police went to the home, knocked on the front door and got no answer. Thankfully, instead of simply saying there was not indication of a problem, Officers Michael Taylor and Michael Wilson went around to the back of the house, where they found an unlocked door.

They discovered the woman in her bed suffering from extreme dehydration. The home was “locked up tight,” according to Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood. There was no air-conditioning, no fans, not even an open window.

The woman apparently had been inside the house in conditions where temperatures soared close to 100 degrees, for days. She did not have access to her phone or water.

The woman was taken to the hospital, placed on an IV to rehydrate her. She continues to recover.

Chitwood fears if not for the persistence and caring nature of her friend, the woman may have died inside her stifling home.

“Check on your neighbor,” the chief once again reminds us. “Especially if they are elderly, they can’t survive in this environment.”

We also would echo the superintendent’s comments in lauding the two officers involved.

“I applaud them.” Chitwood said of his officers. “Instead of knocking on the door and leaving, they found a back door ajar and found her.”

Before the heat wave arrived, counties once again issued reminders about what to do in battling what was expected to be an extended heat wave.

One of those is a call to be neighborly, to look after one another, especially our older neighbors.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are approximately 650 heat-related deaths per year, with the highest death rate among people 65 and older.

We are thankful to report that those numbers did not increase in our region last week.

Enjoy the next few days, which promise a glorious taste of sunshine and sparkling summer weather.

But be warned that another heat wave is no doubt around the corner.

Do the neighborly thing. Check on your older friends, relatives and neighbors.

It just might save their lives.