Seniors seek relief from heat [York Daily Record, Pa.]

July 08--YORK, Pa. -- William Ruby, 77, joked about the ice cream selection at Heritage Senior Center in Dover Township.

"It's good," Ruby said of his serving of butter pecan. "I told them I wanted a pineapple sundae. They wouldn't give it to me. A guy can't have everything in life."

The ice cream was one of the perks the center offered to help senior citizens stay cool on Friday. Workers at the center also encouraged them to drink ice water. And they offered to stay open later Thursday and Friday, as did staff members did at several other York County senior centers, according to the York County Area Agency on Aging.

More people took advantage of the ice cream than the later hours at Heritage Senior Center. Four people were playing cards there after 3 p.m. Friday, when the center usually would have been closed.

But it was a precautionary measure for a population that is more at risk during hot weather.

"We're open just in case," Emma Crossley, executive director of the Heritage Senior Center, said.

Beth Kehler, director of public relations and advocacy for the York County Area Agency on Aging, said caseworkers have been calling a few hundred clients considered at-risk, who already receive services from the agency. They ask them if they have enough to drink, if anyone is checking on them, and other questions related to their safety.

"If they're getting home-delivered meals, a volunteer from the senior center is already going out to them," Kehler said. "So that's another check."

At Heritage Senior Center, about 75 people came to the center for lunch on Friday, according to Crossley. The crowd gradually thinned after that.

Dolly Sutton, 75, left at about 1 p.m. She was planning to spend part of the day, doing yard work and pulling weeds.

"You're crazy," Leona Shaffer, 70, told her. "...I wouldn't be outside."

Shaffer said she always brings a bottle of ice with her, "no matter what day it is. ...It keeps me cool."

By 1:15 p.m., about 25 seniors were hanging out in the center. Ruby, Charlie Sennett, 80, and some others were playing Wii bowling, a Nintendo video game.

"I try to stay where it's cool," said Sennett. "At my age, you don't go out in the heat unless you have to."

Ruby left around the normal closing time. He joked with card players as he left.

"I'm a busy man," Ruby said. "I want to go out and play in the heat."

Bringing food, looking for red flags

Dick Bear and his wife, Sandy, volunteer to deliver meals to senior citizens.

"It's the joy of knowing that you're getting hot meals out to seniors who can't always get out," said the 73-year-old Bear, who stopped by Heritage Senior Center in Dover Township on Friday. "...It's just the joy of knowing that you're helping."

He and other volunteers check in with people on their routes when temperatures are high. They look for red flags.

"We assume that responsibility to make sure that they're OK," Bear said.

Braving the heat

A cooling station for the general public was open from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Salvation Army, 114 S. Duke St. in York, according to the York County Area Agency on Aging.

Golden Visions Senior Community Center in Hanover never officially opened Saturday, but officials were on-site until 1 p.m. in case anyone showed up in need of a break from the heat.

Temps

Here's a look at high temperatures across York County according to the York Water Company:

Penn State York 99.5

Hillcrest 98.7

North Hills 104.4

Indian Rock Dam 101.0

West York 107.1

Brillhart 102.1

Druck Valley/Glades 105.0

Loganville 99.8

Hanover 106.7

York Haven 100.0

@edmahonreporter; 771-2089

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