Readers’ Corner | How are you experiencing the heat?

For the past two years, I have worked in several secondary schools as a substitute teacher. This week is the last week before summer vacation for students, but they are being asked to report to school even if they have finished all their classes. This afternoon and tomorrow, at a temperature of 40, I will have to watch young people and find activities to do in a classroom without windows and without air conditioning to keep them busy, because they will not have any absences. motivated by their parents. One might say, “Take them outside to play,” but I think that option is even worse for the risk of heat stroke. At this exceptional temperature, all students should be allowed to return home to cool off after a 2-3 hour time block… I am a future teacher and I hope that in the future we can offer air-conditioned premises for all students for the end of the year and the months of September which will be increasingly hot.

I am a nurse in a CHSLD, and I can tell you that healthcare personnel also work without air conditioning. Some residents’ rooms have them, but as they are always cold, many are not in use. At the nurses’ station, it is extremely hot, even the doctors complain about it. Caregivers have to give baths in this extreme heat. There is air conditioning in the residents’ lounge, but it has been broken for a month already and we don’t know when it will be repaired. Residents are more apathetic during a period like this, they eat less and do not feel thirsty. We need to encourage them to hydrate. In short, we talk about schools in the news because they do not have air conditioning, but many health care workers will also suffer from this oppressive heat.

I work in a CHSLD, and I offer coffee on the terrace with volunteers this morning. In the afternoon, we do a watercolor activity under a pergola, with a break to give Mr. Freeze to our residents. Luckily, we have air conditioning inside.

It may be 40 degrees outside, but the office buildings are 16 degrees. Honestly, the contrast makes me sick every year, so I leave the house in shorts and change into warmer clothes once I get to work.

I am newly retired and I love the heat, so today is a gift from life. A perfect combination for spending the day outside around my pool, which I never really took advantage of.