The risk of heat-related illness or death is especially high for people experiencing homelessness — particularly those in isolated rural towns, where there are fewer resources for those who often struggle with addiction and severe mental illness.
Charles Johnson, 52, gulps down a third bottle of water on an extremely hot day in Blythe, Calif.
In Blythe, there are more than 100 unhoused people. Most live outdoors. There are no homeless shelters and few cooling centers. Pastor Joshua Lopez-Padilla, right, gives food to Abby Mitchell and offers her a ride so she can shower at Blythe Central Seventh-day Adventist Church. Lopez-Padilla hoped to open the cooling center for more days, with longer hours, but funding issues and the cost of electricity limit his ability to do so. He said that with just its regular services, the church spends about $3,000 a month in electricity — an amount that almost surely will be higher on the next bill, which will include the time as a cooling center.A homeless person finds shade in front of a building in Blythe.
Abby Mitchell, refreshed after visiting Blythe Central Seventh-day Adventist Church, returns to her homeless encampment in Blythe.“I feel like someone threw me in an oven,” she said. “Sometimes I can’t breathe, and I cry most days because I don’t know what to do, it’s so hot.” Joshua Lopez-Padilla, right, pastor of Blythe Central Seventh-day Adventist Church, invites a homeless woman living in an encampment along Highway 95 to visit the church.
But much of the responsibility falls on police and local volunteer groups, said Blythe Police Chief Garth Dale. Although some assistance is received from other organizations in the Coachella Valley, it's limited, he said. The money dried up earlier this year, and now he’s been trying to find ways to fund the program again.
George Colangeli, general manager of the agency, said it receives about five to 10 visitors a day. Most of the time, they are people whose vehicles have broken down on the road. His backpack sat next to him with a wooden cross poking out of the top. His wet shoes dried in the sun. Back at the church, Johnson and Mitchell showered and waited for Lopez-Padilla to drive them back to the Lost City.A few years ago, he said, the sun's rays wouldn’t feel too intense until about 9 a.m. Now, he said, it's boiling by 6 a.m.
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