This blog is part of a series on Walk for Warmth.
Throughout our community, there are homes at 64 F. These people have decreased strength and dexterity.
Some people are feeling their mental health and interpersonal relationships deteriorate. They’re not sure why, but their homes being at 61 F is contributing.
Other neighbors are living in homes that have temperatures which have dropped below 61 F. The people in these houses start battling ongoing respiratory diseases because their resistance to infection has weakened.
What happens when homes plummet to 54 F or under? People’s blood pressure levels start rising, and their cardiovascular disease risks increase.
The problems mount for children and older people. For children, cold homes slow their metabolisms. Their organ growth can be stunted while their social, emotional and cognitive functions can be impaired. For older people, cold homes exacerbate their ailments and contribute to their falls and injuries. Since their ability to regulate their temperatures has already lessened, other impacts are enhanced.
We wish no one lived in a cold home and suffered health consequences. Many people don’t realize that cold homes impact people’s immediate and long-term health.
Walk for Wamth, a free community event, is helping to overcome several hurdles, and here’s one of them: Bridge a knowledge gap about fuel poverty and its associated health outcomes. Learn more from Health and Winter Warmth: Reducing Health Inequalities and Institute of Health Equity.
Walk for Warmth occurs on Saturday, Feb. 17 between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Attendees follow a pre-planned, three-quarter-mile route in downtown Anchorage.
ENSTAR, United Way and many other people and organizations are doing their part to offer heat, hope and change—and you can too. Keeping homes warm keeps people healthy.
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