Managing hot weather
The sun is shining and HEATWAVE is splashed across the tabloids once again! We love a good bit of sunshine here at Ben’s, but we also recognise the dangers of hot weather for the people that visit us, and for the people we encounter out on the streets. In this blog we will share our upcoming summer plans and how we help our visitors and people on the streets safe.
Coming up this summer at Ben’s
We have plans to keep running interactive hobby sessions. Over the past few months we have had walks, history tours, textile groups, woodland adventure sessions, gardening and Lego in the centre. These have been popular with visitors and we hope gives a bit of a change to a visitors day and the opportunity to do new things. We have seen some great soft skill building in all of these activities such as teamwork , communication and problem-solving. Our plans over the summer is to keep these sessions running when visitors want them. We have had a kind donation of gardening tools and have already got some potatoes on the go; we hope that we can continue with further gardening sessions to get visitors out in the fresh air and moving about. Other craft sessions are planned for the rainier days - clay, mug transfers and tattoo writing are some of the sessions our wonderfully talented staff have volunteered to run.
Dangers of hot weather
We talk a lot in Winter about the dangers for our clients, but hot weather also poses its problems. Sun burn and related conditions, sun stroke and dehydration being things we can all experience through too much heat. However, for some of our visitors and especially the people we visit on the streets - they may not have a shelter during the day to get out of this hot weather and for people who are misusing alcohol or substances the effects of the sun and heat can be heightened ad exceptionally dangerous. Our outreach team are out during the day providing water and sunscreen and to give advice and encourage people to move into shadier areas or visit a day centre when the sun is hottest.
The Day Centre is open as usual during the summer to be a shelter from the hot weather - we try to keep it as cool as possible! Nutritious food and water are available, as well as water to take away when people leave. We have medical professionals that run clinics from the day centre who can help with the effects of heat stroke and sun burn.
How can you help
Giving bottles of water to someone you see on the streets in Summer, or donating to your local Day Centre is a huge help. You may also be able to use a scheme in cafes where you can donate an extra drink when you make a purchase, that a person in need can collect. Cafe’s operating this scheme in Sheffield (that we know of!) are The Chakra Lounge, Forge Bakehouse and various high street chains.