Heat wave threatens Clark County’s homeless community; outreach workers deliver water, supplies

For many Clark County residents, the past few days of triple-degree temperatures have been an annoyance. For those who are homeless, they’ve been life-threatening.

Authorities say more homeless people this summer are experiencing heat-related emergencies in downtown Vancouver than last year. The National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning through Tuesday.

The Columbian spoke to 20 or so people living outside about the realities of enduring the heat wave without shelter. Many said they are at the mercy of outreach teams who deliver water and other hot weather supplies.

Although outreach teams visited several campsites over the weekend, people were aching for more water.

“When it’s 100 degrees out, you can’t drink enough,” Gary Lauser, a volunteer from Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, said as he distributed frozen water bottles.

Increase in calls

On Monday afternoon, as temperatures approached 100 degrees, a man writhed in heat and delirium behind a tree as cars whizzed by on West Mill Plain Boulevard. He had stripped off all his clothes, exposing reddened skin, and was desperate for water. After lying in his tent all day, trying to hide from the direct sun, he was exhibiting signs of heat stroke — a deadly heat-related illness.

Robb Milano, emergency medical services division chief for the Vancouver Fire Department, said people who live outdoors are especially vulnerable to the heat.

This year, he’s noticed an increase in homeless people in downtown Vancouver needing help for heat-related illnesses.

Milano said between Friday and Sunday, about 10 percent of the department’s calls were heat-related emergencies: 16 on Friday, 14 on Saturday and 18 on Sunday. He said he expects those numbers to climb with a high temperature of 103 degrees expected Tuesday. That tally will include the man likely experiencing heat stroke on Mill Plain. Columbian reporters called 911 and cooled him with water. Paramedics arrived, he begged for more water.

Deadly shelter

A few days ago, Jeremy Monahan woke up seeing white, momentarily blinded by the heat as he sat up in the tent where he’s lived for two years. He said he wasn’t sure how to cool off until a caseworker drove him to Living Hope Church’s cooling center.

“If you’re homeless, there’s not a whole lot of places you can go,” he said.

Many of those living outside who spoke to The Columbian said they had been in touch with some type of outreach worker or church group in the past few days who delivered water, Popsicles, bandanas and other supplies to counter the heat.

Some residents living in a large camp along the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail said they tried going into nearby stores for the air conditioning but were quickly kicked out. Others said they visited nearby cooling centers, while some said they didn’t know where they could go and stay for more than a few hours.

Volunteers from Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church delivered water and lunch to the camp Monday afternoon. They visit twice a week, and some in the camp said the volunteers are their main source of water.

“I’m amazed that people have been handling (the heat) as well as they do,” volunteer Gregg Repman said.

Although tents provide respite from burning sunlight, temperatures inside can reach dangerous levels.

An instant-read thermometer measured 98 degrees inside a tent guarded by partial shade. But in Shelly Ball’s tent, which sits on a sidewalk and is exposed to direct sunlight, the temperature reached 134 degrees.

And yet, she remained inside the tent, recovering from an amputation of her big toe a few weeks prior due to diabetes. It still causes her pain, especially in the heat, she said. She peeled off her sock to reveal a bandage damp with sweat.

“I woke up at 2 a.m. last night and couldn’t go back to sleep because of the heat,” she said. “It’s hard to get cool. … Water goes fast out here.”

AC a lifesaver

Just a few years ago, Regina Rubalcaba sat at a dais, serving as a city councilor and mayor pro tem of her small Southern California city. On Monday afternoon, she sat quietly in Living Hope Church just for the air conditioning. Her 8-month-old puppy, Stella, sat loyally at her feet.

She said she was there because the heat in her car, where she and Stella have lived since December after a series of misfortunes, was unbearable. Sleeping in the heat is especially dangerous because the body stops regulating its temperature, experts say. It was 80 degrees at midnight Sunday.

As she awaited a phone call about receiving a motel voucher for the next two nights, Rubalcaba described her efforts to become employed again, this time as a school bus driver, and obtain housing.

“I just wish there were more people that could recognize my situation,” she said. “It’s great that places like this open up for people who need it.”

Next to Rubalcaba, volunteers at the cooling center poured bags of ice into coolers full of beverages and distributed banana ice pops to those seeking refuge from the heat. The church also provides one of the few misting stations in town.

Living Hope Church’s cooling center was packed Sunday, according to volunteers. The outreach center has helped people get bus tickets or gas to come to the cooling center.

“We’re doing whatever we can to help and try to meet people’s needs,” lay pastor Julie Lietz said.