Cooling Centers and Services for the Unsheltered Available
Santa Clara County, CA.- The National Weather Service has advised that temperatures are expected in the mid-nineties in the Santa Clara Valley and up to 100 degrees in South County and the Eastern foothills in the Diablo Range on Saturday. Everyone is encouraged to take precautions against the heat, drink plenty of water and fluids with electrolytes, use air conditioning to keep cool, or go to a cooling center to find relief from the heat.
To stay safe and cool this weekend, follow these safety tips:
1) Drink plenty of water even if you don’t feel thirsty. Avoid alcohol, caffeine or lots of sugar because they will speed up fluid loss;
2) Limit physical activity: Avoid physical activity during the hottest time of the day—10 a.m.-3 p.m.;
3) Never leave people or pets in a closed, parked car.
4) During peak heat hours stay in an air-conditioned area. If you do not have access to air conditioning in your home, visit public facilities such as cooling centers, shopping malls, parks, and libraries to stay cool. Visit http://bit.ly/Cooling-Centers for a list of cooling centers that are open and available throughout Santa Clara County.
For additional health information and safety tips (in English, Spanish and Vietnamese), please visit the http://bit.ly/heat-safety-tips.
The County of Santa Clara Office of Supportive Housing staff are working with service providers to allow shelters to remain open during the hottest time of the day to provide the unsheltered with respite from the extreme heat. Outreach workers are making extra visits to encampments to distribute water and provide information about cooling centers and other services. For information on shelter locations in Santa Clara County, visit the Office of Supportive Housing website.
If you know of a vulnerable person without air conditioning, such as an elderly or infirm neighbor or someone with a drug or alcohol disorder or severe mental illness, please check on them and help them get to a cooling center or other air-conditioned space between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. If you see someone on the street who may be having a reaction to the heat, please help get them to a cooling center or call 911.
Residents are encouraged to check on family, friends, neighbors, the elderly and other vulnerable populations in our community during extreme heat.
Available hotlines to direct people to services:
Call 2-1-1: for health and human services in Santa Clara County;
Homeless Helpline (not San Jose): Call the County Office of Supportive Housing at (408) 793-0550 to ask for assistance or report a homeless person in need in Santa Clara County;
HomeFirst Homeless Helpline: Call (408) 510-7600 or e-mail the HomeFirst Helpline at Outreach@homefirstscc.org. HomeFirst’s Outreach team provides access to emergency shelter, showers, laundry, meals, medical services, case management, employment training, and more.
Homeless individuals can register to receive text messages about services as follows:
- Simply address a text message to: 888777
- Type BADWEATHER in the message
- Send the message