"We are not ready": Study shows Seattle still unprepared for extreme heat, with elderly most vulnerable

Record ID: 1736976

  • Title: "We are not ready": Study shows Seattle still unprepared for extreme heat, with elderly most vulnerable
  • Date: 8th August 2023
  • Summary: ELDERLY RESIDENTS PARTICIPATE IN LOW-INTENSITY EXERCISE AT SOUTHEAST SEATTLE SENIOR CENTER SOUTHEAST SEATTLE SENIOR CENTER FITNESS INSTRUCTOR MARK BRYANT GETS WATER FOR AN ELDERLY PARTICIPANT IN EXERCISE CLASS ELDERLY SEATTLE RESIDENT MATTIE F. WATTS PARTICIPATING IN EXERCISE GROUP WITH BRYANT
  • Embargoed: 22nd August 2023 10:50
  • Keywords: CLIMATE CHANGE HEAT WAVE SEATTLE
  • Location: SEATTLE + BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES
  • City: SEATTLE + BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Environment,North America,Temperature,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA002126231072023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A NOTE TO EDITORS: THIS STORY IS PART OF A MINI VIDEO SERIES ON WEATHER/CLIMATE
    At Southeast Seattle Senior Center (SESSC) in Seattle's Rainier Valley, elderly visitors walk through the doors for daily activities like low-impact exercise classes and games like mahjong, dominoes, and chess. The center has
    been there since 1986 and in recent years, it has become a place of refuge from the heat during summer.
    "When the weather is really hot and I start teaching exercise, I don't teach at a high intensity, I keep it very low because they get very hot and that's dangerous, they can pass out from that," says Mark Bryant, 64, who has been teaching exercise classes at SESSC for 19 years.
    When Reuters recently visited the center, temperatures in Seattle were reaching approximately 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius), somewhat average for early August in the city. But when it's sweltering hot, staff at SESSC send out robocalls to their elderly community across the city, letting them know of heat dangers and inviting them to come visit their air-conditioned space, while treating themselves to a free ice cream or popsicle. Other non-elderly residents in the surrounding community are also welcome to cool off from the heat as well.
    Earlier this summer, the University of Washington's Climate Impacts Group released a report 'In the Hot Seat: Saving Lives from Extreme Heat in Washington State' which analyzed the region's hottest heatwave on historical record between June 26th and July 2nd of 2021.
    "Are we ready for another heat wave? I think that's the question everyone wants to know. And the answer is we're better prepared, but we are not ready." says University of Washington Climate Impacts Group Interim Director and project lead Dr. Jason Vogel while discussing the report.
    The "heat dome" of 2021 was initially thought to have killed 126 Washingtonians, but the group's study uncovered through additional analysis that 441 more people died as a result during the timeframe compared to previous years, making it the deadliest weather-related disaster in Washington state.
    "When we think about the elderly as a category of people who are vulnerable by definition, just people over 65 are at greater risk. A lot of reasons that are just biophysical, like your body is less efficient at sweating and cooling itself down. But you also have those preexisting medical conditions, heart disease, or kidney disease. You may be on those medications that reduce your ability to sweat. So, you're just more vulnerable across the board." said Vogel.
    He suggests Washingtonians do more for the elderly in anticipation of these times, including retrofitting senior living spaces to ensure air-conditioning is readily available for many and starting programs to check-in with neighbors who might not otherwise be in contact with the rest of the community.
    Back inside SESSC's main gathering area, visitors think back on the historical heatwave of 2021 and if they're ready for the next one.
    "I have lived in the Seattle area for about 50 years. And when I first moved here, the weather conditions were a little bit different, I did not experience the heat we are having right now," said Mattie F. Watts, 74 of Seattle. "I have an air conditioner that I bought last year, it's portable air conditioning that I put in my house. And we're using fans, and I also have a cooler. So that's pretty much how I'm keeping the house cool."
    Upstairs, in a small room with a handful of Mahjong players, Mitsue 'Mimi' Schilling, 74, remembered the excessive heat in 2021.
    "It was hot. And we live in a brick house, so it was really hot...it was horrible, I almost thought about moving away from Seattle." Schilling said.
    (Production: Matt McKnight)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Audio restrictions: This clip's Audio includes copyrighted material. User is responsible for obtaining additional clearances before publishing the audio contained in this clip.
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