The dog days of summer are here, with extreme heat still gripping much of our region. Ozarks allergies. Daniel Caruth has more on the latest heat wave.
Angela Norris is showing off neat piles of supplies on a series of fold-out tables inside of the Fayetteville Town Center.
"You've got chapstick, sunscreen, towels. We've got some fresh-cut pineapple. We've got veggie trays. We've got cases of water. Einstein Brothers donated some coffee. We've got ice water there."
This is the first location for the city of Fayetteville's emergency cooling center. Norris, who helped to set up the emergency center with city staff earlier this week, is homeless and says when these extreme weather conditions hit, her community is hit hardest and often forgotten.
"I have been out here off and on for 10, 14 years, and every year it's the same thing. It's the heat. It's the cold. It's, you know, we're outcasted in a way. And so this year I decided I was going to petition the mayor and city council. I started sending a massive letters, emails out to them, asking them, hey, can you at least bring water, ice? You know, fans somewhere like or at least just let us sit somewhere, you know, so we can cool down because there's so many people having heart health related conditions because of this heat.
"We've had three people alone this week in the hospital for heatstroke. We just had two people at the horseshoe pit not even an hour ago have to be taken from there by ambulance due to heat-related seizures because of the heat index."
Gage Reed is the city of Fayetteville's homelessness strategies coordinator, a new position created by Mayor Molly Rawn just this year. He says the city heard from people that other cooling centers operated by nonprofits and faith-based organizations in the city were either not open or not meeting the demand.
"We at the city, we heard there was a need for a cooling center response. It wasn't being met. So our mayor and city staff stepped up to make it happen. We made it happen immediately and we will be doing this all week. There are no barriers whatsoever. Anyone is welcome. You do not have to be unhoused to show up here at the cooling center. We welcome anybody that needs to cool off."
This week, the National Weather Service issued a heat advisory for all of Arkansas and heat warnings for several parts of the Arkansas River Valley and eastern Oklahoma, with temperatures hitting the hundreds on Monday and Tuesday, and heat index values, how hot the weather feels when combined with relative humidity, hitting up to 110 for some areas.
"Yeah. So it definitely is very hot. I mean, it was just hot just walking around today. Some of the things that we see very commonly is just as simple as dehydration, people just getting exhausted, even to the extremes of having heatstrokes, people needing to be admitted to the hospital for kidney failure because they're so dehydrated as well."
Mark Fan is a doctor in the emergency department and intensive care units of Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville. He says over the past few weeks, the hospital has seen more people coming into the emergency room suffering from heat-related illnesses.
"But we definitely can feel the difference in when people come in for heat-related things. Even during this time, people are still working in factory jobs and things like that. And those areas get really hot pretty quickly. So it's just simple as coming in just because they pass out from just being dehydrated and need IV fluids. I feel like that's pretty common nowadays, at this time."
He says things like dehydration and heat exhaustion are the most common conditions, which can result in muscle cramps, headaches, dizziness and fatigue. He says heatstroke is the most severe form of heat-related illness and warrants immediate medical attention.
"And some things that you can look for in people who have heatstrokes are if they're confused, if they're acting funny, if they're passing out multiple times, even if they're having seizures. Those are definitely signs to call 911 to get them to the ER as soon as they can."
He says those most at risk for heat-related illnesses include those 65 and older, infants and young children, people taking medication for heart disease or high blood pressure, athletes, those working outside or in non-air-conditioned buildings and the homeless. But, he says, when those record temperatures hit, anyone could be at risk.
"Some of the things to be on the lookout for is waiting too long to drink. If you're thirsty and you're starting to drink, you're probably behind. Also just drinking just plain water. You can easily dilute your electrolytes that way. So making sure you balance that out with some kind of electrolyte drink. I think the other things too is just plan your day. High noon. It's going to be a lot more extreme. Humidity makes it a lot harder for your sweat to evaporate to allow you to cool better.
"Other things too is, you know, cars can be a little microwave oven. So even if the windows are cracked, it becomes really hot really fast. So those are some areas to really be careful of. Staying in the shade will definitely help. But just even then it's still pretty hot and humid out. So trying to get indoors during peak times, I think it's really important."
The National Weather Service projects some cooler weather to move in over the weekend with temperatures for parts of Northwest Arkansas in the mid-80s. But another heat wave is projected next week with feels-like temperatures back into the hundreds. Reed with the city of Fayetteville says he knows access to cooling shelters has been subpar recently, but he hopes to address that problem within the next year.
"So long term? Absolutely. There will be a more organized, pre-planned response for future extreme weather. This year I started in June. So I've been doing a lot of outreach and thankfully I developed some relationships and, you know, community partners that want to support this right now immediately. But yeah, you can count on a more planned, earlier organized response going forward."
Fayetteville's emergency cooling center is open at Rooted Church off of College Avenue through Saturday and Sunday at the Yvonne Richardson Community Center from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The city says it may open emergency locations next week, depending on temperature forecasts.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
