According to patient advocates, many old people in homes are “exposed largely without protection” to high temperatures like this hot weekend.
In the public sector, the cooling of the offices should start from 26 degrees, but for those in need of help in the homes, such an urgently needed regulation is still missing, criticized the board of directors of the Patient Protection Foundation, Eugen Brysch, on Sunday. “Politicians are called upon to end the heat suffering of the 810,000 people in need of care in the homes.”
Temperatures of up to 37 degrees will prevail in large parts of Germany this weekend. Some parts of eastern Germany were even expected to reach 38 degrees on Sunday. Older people or other people with a tendency towards an unstable circulation are considered to be particularly at risk in such heat.
Brysch complained that there was no general ministerial regulation for limiting the temperature in homes. “Climate change does not stop at elderly care.”
This weekend everyone was talking about the first heatwave of the year, he added. However, the problem has been well known for a long time. “Another year has passed and the public hardly notices that old people in the homes are largely exposed to the high temperatures without any protection.”
