Support agencies crank up efforts to help homeless beat heat

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This article was published 04/06/2021 (1584 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Agencies that work with Winnipeg’s homeless population put their efforts into high gear Friday to help in record-high, dangerous late-spring heat.

Outside the Main Street Project’s building on Martha Street, a volunteer named Riley soaked a man with cool water using a garden hose fitted with a spray nozzle. A placard taped to a garbage bin behind them read, BEACH CLUB / MIST YOURSELF!

“It’s really important because there’s a heat warning, and the community is often outside,” said Karen Murison, a Main Street Project staff member. “Especially during COVID. Lots of places that our community would normally find to cool off are closed.”

In previous years, she said, people could go into air-conditioned businesses, libraries or other places to lower their body temperatures.

The mercury reached 36.1 C in the city Friday, which was the hottest June 4 since 1872, said Environment Canada’s David Phillips, adding temperatures are measured in shade, meaning it likely got above 40 in open sun.

Gretna, Emerson and Morden all sizzled at or above the 40-degree mark.

Dr. Donna Neufeld, a family physician, said the extreme temperatures can put people at risk for serious heat exhaustion, which occurs when body temperatures are higher than 37 C and lower than 40 C. People may become dizzy, thirsty, confused and nauseated, sometimes to the point of vomiting, and they will sweat. That sweat dries up, however, when body temperature rises above 40 C and heat exhaustion becomes heat stroke. At this point, people may become delirious, and should be taken to a hospital right away, she said.

Neufeld said when external temperatures near and exceed a body’s internal temperature, natural cooling mechanisms become inefficient.

She said an early sign of overheating is heat cramps. At this point, there’s no need for medical attention, she said, but people should stop what they’re doing, get to a cool place, drink water and avoid diuretics such as caffeine and alcohol.

Finding cool places and light clothing can be especially difficult for the homeless community, she said.

Not far from Main Street Project’s “beach club,” cases of bottled water were stacked up around a table where volunteers and staff handed them out with granola bars, watermelon and Freezies. Community members, some elderly and using walkers, some young with even younger children, sat against the wall of the building in its shade or meandered briefly in the open gates to grab some goods before seeking shade elsewhere.

The Downtown Community Safety Partnership has been handing out more than 800 bottles of water in eight-hour shifts over the past couple of days, said project leader Derek Manaigre.

“We’re doing pretty much the most important thing we can do right now,” said Manaigre.

Siloam Mission is keeping its doors open longer — from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. — and handing out lighter clothing, said communications manager Luke Thiessen.

He said Siloam Mission distributes hats and pants that are long enough to protect people’s legs from sunburn but light enough to help them stay cool.

And they offer backpacks, which are important in the community during intense summer heat.

“People can take off a piece of clothing but not have to throw it away,” he said. “They can keep it with them. So just allowing people a little more flexibility with their clothing to deal with the heat and the sun.”

Main Street Project and Siloam Mission both said they welcome and rely on donations of water, hats, summer clothing and anything else that can help people stay cool and safe.

cody.sellar@freepress.mb.ca