Australia is set for temperatures to reach the 40s with South Australia set already for a heatwave and the elderly are the concern to stay cool.
To combat this, the South Australian government has created fact sheets in Greek with tips on what the elderly can do to remain cool during the high temperatures.
Tips include: Fill a bath or bowls with cold water in advance so you can cool down; Keep the curtains and blinds drawn; Use a battery operated personal fan; Fill bottles/jugs of drinking water kept in a cool dark place; Still keep medications that need to be refrigerated in a fridge but wrapped in foil or a heat repellent container with an icepack ready to place with them if power goes off; After power comes back on after a prolonged outage be careful of eating food products usually stored in the fridge or freezer that may have been damaged by loss of cold storage; If the heat cools in the evening but the power is still off – if you feel safe to do so – open up the house to let the cool air through.
Local MP Steve Georganas used twitter today to get the message out to all the ethnic elderly imploring them to read the fact sheets.
To read the fact sheets visit SA Health: Extreme Heat.