How Butler County seniors can stay warm during upcoming cold weather
Next week, Butler County may be in line for a record-breaking stretch of cold temperatures not seen since the infamous cold wave of 1994. From Monday, Jan. 20 through Wednesday, Jan. 22, temperatures are expected to drop below zero with wind chill.
This could wreak havoc on the health of Butler County’s senior population, which is especially vulnerable to extreme cold.
“Their skin is thinner, they’re older, they’re more susceptible to both extreme cold and hot weather than young people,” said Beth Herold of the Butler County Area Agency on Aging.
For seniors experiencing homelessness, one way to keep warm during the upcoming cold snap is to stay at the Glade Run Warming Center, located at the Grace Community Wellness Center on East Diamond Street. The warming center, available for use between the hours of 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. every day, is open until the end of March.
For those who do have somewhere warm to stay, Herold recommends making good use of the thermostat, space heaters and electric blankets.
“Keep the thermostat around 68 or 70, instead of putting it lower,” Herold said. “If you have a space heater, block off one room that you can heat.”
Herold said an oven is not an acceptable way to heat a home, as it may pose a fire or carbon monoxide risk.
“We do have some seniors that’ll turn on their oven and open the door,” Herold said. “That’s just a fire risk. We tell people that’s not the way to do it.”
For those who don’t have a reliable source of heat, or if the power goes out, Herold recommends dressing in layers and using extra covers or pajamas when sleeping.
Herold also recommends seniors avoid consuming alcohol. While it can make the drinker feel warmer, it actually makes the body lose heat and makes the drinker — especially senior drinkers — more susceptible to accidents such as falls.
Butler County has seven senior centers dotted across the county which offer meals, health programs, and benefits. However, Herold says if conditions warrant, the county may keep the senior centers closed to discourage seniors from going outside.
“In extreme cold temperatures, we do close them because we would rather people stay in their homes than to head out in very cold and icy weather to come to the centers,” Herold said.
Butler County’s senior centers are open only few hours per week, and only on specific days, with times varying by center. For example, the senior center at Tanglewood, on Austin Avenue in Butler Township, is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.
However, Herold said the county’s future senior center, planned to be built on Duffy Road, will be able to open for extended hours when it is finished. The project to build the new senior center, on the site of the former Butler Health and Fitness Club, went out to bid last month.
“Once that space is renovated, we'll be able to open that up as a warming center for extended hours,” Herold said. “We just don't have that capability right now because we rent spaces. They’re not our spaces.”
Once the new senior center is finished, Butler’s senior center will move from Tanglewood to the new location.
