What are some tips to prevent heat-related illnesses?
Guralnik: Well the most obvious tip is to try to stay in a cool place and this is a tip particularly for older people. If you have air conditioning, you should use it. If you don’t have air conditioning, it’s important to try to ventilate your home, keep the shades down during the day; at night when it cools off open the windows to get some circulation, use fans. On particularly hot days it’s important particularly for older people to try to get to, who don’t have air conditioning, to try to get someplace where there is air conditioning where they can cool off for several hours. And there are a number of agencies that make these kinds of places available. Or even going to the shopping mall or the movies can give you relief in the middle of the day. It’s important to drink plenty of fluids during the day, to wear light loose fitting clothing. Sometimes older people get in the habit of wearing certain kind of clothing and they don’t modify it adequately when the temperature goes up. It’s
