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Summer
 Stopping Summer
Spinouts
Summer can be hell for people confined to a small, poorly
ventilated room. Heat waves bring days of continuous high
temperature. Many older rooming houses are constructed of material,
such as red brick, that, once heated, retain heat for long periods
of time. After about the second day of a heat wave these rooming
houses begin to cook their residents. The heat of the day remains
during the night making sleep almost impossible for many people.
The mixed bag of medical conditions suffered by the population
ensures that people will simply ‘lose it’. What the cost is to the
community nobody knows.
Although
the Office of Housing does provide heating facilities in Victorian
Government owned rooming houses it does recognise the need for room
cooling facilities. However, OoH does provide fridges which is
something most other rooming house residents do not have. Keeping a
room cool that has about the same insulation properties as a
biscuit tin is no easy task but, there are some things you can do
to make life a bit more comfortable.
Keep
the Air Moving
Keeping some form of breeze flowing through your room may not be an
easy task. During the early days of a heat wave it may be better to
keep your window closed. Some buildings take several days to heat
up. When they do heat up the buildings stay that way even after the
arrival off a cool change. You will be amazed how a room heats up
when one or two other people visit your room. Body heat can cause
the temperature to rise, especially in a small room.
Fans are
the most commonly used air movers. They are fairly cheap to buy.
There are a number of second hand shops in the area where fans can
be purchased at a reasonable price.
We have
tried putting ice or water in front of a fan but the cooling effect
is not great. In fact, you are probably better off tipping the
water or ice over your head.
Keep
the Fluids Up
Unfortunately for drinkers, beer, wine and spirits can cause real
problems. Alcohol dehydrates the body. Cheap wines can be
especially dangerous as they de-hydrate the body really
quickly.
The body
requires about three litres of water per day to function properly.
If we do not keep up our water intake we start losing
concentration, become tired and eventually cranky; sometimes very
cranky. You should also try knocking back a couple of glasses of
water every now and again. If you have a group of friends drinking
alcohol in your room a couple of water bottles passed around every
now and again may prevent a major spinout with your room and
contents being totally destroyed.
Solar
Chilling
If you do not have access to a fridge there is one way to use the
sun to cool drinks on a hot day. A lot of people do not believe
this idea when they are first told of it.
First, wet
a towel. Second, wrap the can or bottle you wish to cool inside the
wet towel. Third, place the wrapped drink container where direct
sun is shinning, eg a window sill. Fourth, wait until the towel is
dry on the outside. The drink will be chilled. Try it, it does
work!
Find a
Cool Place
Escaping to a place where it is cool may be one way of escaping the
hot days. The beach may be alright for some people but it will not
be for others.
Libraries
are nice quite places that are normally air conditioned. You can at
least relax for a little while, put your head into a book or
magazine and escape somewhere else.
Residents
of two local rooming houses measured temperatures that did not drop
below 35 C in some rooms for between four and days.
Some
Hope For The Future
Hooray, the penny has finally dropped. The Health section of the
Department of Human Services. In conjunction with the Cities of
Stonnington and Port Phillip DHS, Community Project Worker Jared
Osborne is investigating and reporting on the problems rooming
house residents face when we have summer heat waves. We have
already spoken to Jared and we will be assisting the project by
providing information and contacts. If you want to have a say you
can contact us or go directly to Jared on jared.osb@gmail.com We
will be following the project’s progress. | 