Heat and Your Health

Cool Locations for Seniors and People with Disabilities

Heat Sensitive? Sign up to be notified of rotating power outages (PG&E, PDF)

The Governor's Office of Emergency Services: Heat Preparedness

State Plan: Heat Emergency Seasonal Readiness (111k PDF, 1p.)

Heat Stress in the Elderly

FEMA: Are You Ready Guide - Extreme Heat

Red Cross: Heat Waves

Flex Your Power (Efficiency Partnership) California Department of Health Services Fast Facts: Preventing Summer Heat Injuries (99k PDF, 3pp.)

Heat-related deaths and illness are preventable yet annually many people succumb to extreme heat. People suffer heat-related illness when their bodies can't compensate and properly cool themselves.

Very high body temperatures may damage the brain or other vital organs and lead to death. Even young and healthy individuals can succumb to heat if they participate in strenuous physical activities during hot weather.

Air-conditioning is the number one protective factor against heat-related illness and death. If a home is not air-conditioned, people can reduce their risk for heat-related illness by spending time in public facilities that are air-conditioned, such as a mall or movie theater.

Summertime activity, whether on the playing field or the construction site, must be balanced with measures that aid the body's cooling mechanisms and prevent heat-related illness.

For information about how to protect yourself during the current heat wave and for cooling locations call the Contra Costa Health Services Health Emergency Information Line at 1-888-959-9911.

To get information on how to protect yourself from the hot weather call the California Office of Emergency Services toll free line at 1-877-435-7021.

Content provided by the Public Health Division of Contra Costa Health Services.