In the heat wave of 1995 in Chicago, hundreds of deaths could have been avoided if a few simple measures were taken. The first measure is that the police and medics made regular visits to houses with the elderly. Second, the city should have issued a state of emergency. Third fire hydrants should not have been used.
The first measure which meant that police would check in on seniors on a regular basis. This would help if an elderly person was sick or in need of medical attention he/she would not die. Police would see that they were not healthy and they would call for paramedics. Since most of the deaths in the heat wave were seniors lots of lives would have been saved.
The second measure would be to declare a state of emergency. Chicago would have gotten more aid and the whole outcome of the situation would have been a lot better then it was.
The third measure is probably the most important of all. People should not have used the fire hydrants. They used a significant amount of water pressure which made sinks and showers in the elderly’s homes unusable, causing them to cook in their own homes. If everyone just stayed at home and just filled up their baths and used that as a way to keep cool, hundreds of people would have survived the heat wave.
Next time a crisis like this occurs these precautionary measures will be taken and we can reprimand the mistakes we made in the past.
The first measure which meant that police would check in on seniors on a regular basis. This would help if an elderly person was sick or in need of medical attention he/she would not die. Police would see that they were not healthy and they would call for paramedics. Since most of the deaths in the heat wave were seniors lots of lives would have been saved.
The second measure would be to declare a state of emergency. Chicago would have gotten more aid and the whole outcome of the situation would have been a lot better then it was.
The third measure is probably the most important of all. People should not have used the fire hydrants. They used a significant amount of water pressure which made sinks and showers in the elderly’s homes unusable, causing them to cook in their own homes. If everyone just stayed at home and just filled up their baths and used that as a way to keep cool, hundreds of people would have survived the heat wave.
Next time a crisis like this occurs these precautionary measures will be taken and we can reprimand the mistakes we made in the past.