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Resident in a retirement home: »Heat and little fluids can have fatal consequences for the elderly«
Photo: Sina Schuldt / picture alliance / dpa
High temperatures made many people sweat this weekend.
With up to 37.1 degrees, June 18 was the hottest day of the year so far.
Some parts of eastern Germany were even expected to reach 38 degrees on Sunday.
The heat can be life-threatening, especially for the elderly.
According to patient advocates, however, people in homes are exposed to high temperatures "largely without protection".
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.
"Politicians are called upon to end the heat suffering of the 810,000 people in need of care in the homes."
Brysch complained that there was no ministerial regulation to limit the heat in the rooms of the retirement homes.
»Climate change does not stop at elderly care.«
Everyone was talking about the first heat wave of the year, Brysch said.
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.«
Federal Climate Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and the federal states should ensure an immediate adjustment of the building regulations for new nursing homes.
In old buildings, overheated rooms must be over in three years at the latest.
Older people or people who tend to have an unstable circulation are particularly at risk when it is very hot.
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach warned to look at older people.
The SPD politician wrote on Twitter: "Today we are asked to also pay attention to the elderly and disabled." Older people often feel less thirst than would be good for their bodies.
"Heat and not enough fluids can have deadly consequences for the elderly," Lauterbach warned.
mmq/dpa/AFP