Private donors buy air conditioners for elderly residents in Aalborg care homes

Local residents have spent 25,000 kroner on six mobile air-conditioning units for two care homes in Hasseris near Aalborg, DR reports. The units are helping residents cope with the summer heat.

Henrik Hummelgaard bought the equipment with a neighbour after seeing how badly the heat affected his 91-year-old mother. She has had a blood clot in her leg and wears a support stocking.

“It was so unbearable for her in the heat that she sat crying on the phone,” Hummelgaard said.

The pair first bought two air-conditioning units. After receiving positive feedback, they bought three more for another care home, bringing the total to six.

At Otiumgården, social and health care assistant trainee Bianca Mailand Kingo Daugaard said the units had already made a difference.

“We can feel that the residents are now eating and drinking as usual, so we have not seen cases of dehydration,” she said.

Previously, residents had to cope with the heat using fans. Daugaard said high temperatures could reduce their appetite and make them drink less, increasing the risk of dehydration and, in the worst case, hospitalisation.

Hummelgaard hopes a fundraising campaign will allow the care homes to keep the air-conditioning units.

“We have found that relatively little money can make a huge difference,” he said.

Aalborg Municipality, which is responsible for the care homes, said it appreciated the residents’ initiative. Susan Johanne Pedersen, the municipality’s head of care housing, said some care homes were more affected by heat than others because their buildings varied in age, size, layout and ventilation.

The municipality is focusing on access to fluids, cooling and shade during hot periods. Some care homes have served slush ice to residents and employees, while others have provided small paddling pools on terraces where residents can cool their feet.

Some of the care homes were built when air conditioning was not a standard solution, Pedersen said. The municipality is therefore continually assessing how to provide a good indoor climate for residents and employees as summers become warmer.