For the region’s thousands of homeless residents, surviving Las Vegas’ summer is a constant battle.
Just ask Daniel Ahmad. The 39-year-old, who has been homeless here for about two years, went to the hospital twice this summer for heat-related illnesses.
The first time, Ahmad, who spends much of his time in Las Vegas’ city-run homeless courtyard, was overheating and suffering from cellulitis on his leg. He was discharged after a week.
The second time was a closer call. Although he thought he had been drinking enough water, he became suddenly dehydrated. Next thing he knew, he had a 105-degree fever.
“The paramedics said, ‘If you would’ve been up three degrees higher, your brain would’ve burned up,’” Ahmad said.
Temperatures finally cooled a bit this week and aren’t expected to go above 105 again this year. But August was the second-hottest month on record in Las Vegas. The National Weather Service reported a mean maximum temperature of 106.7 degrees in August and 24 days with a high temperature above 105.
Las Vegans, including its homeless population, are no strangers to the desert heat. Temperatures have nonetheless been rising steadily in Southern Nevada over the last few decades, putting already-vulnerable populations such as the homeless at an even greater risk of heat stroke.
Indeed, heat-related deaths have been increasing in the last several years, according to a June analysis by the Desert Research Institute. As of Aug. 31 of this year, 65 people had died of hyperthermia or in situations in which heat played a factor, reports the Clark County Coroner’s Office.
The elderly, people using drugs and alcohol and the homeless are among the most susceptible to heat-related complications, said Brett Harding, assistant Clark County coroner.
“If you look at the homeless, because of their socioeconomic status, they have less access to things that could rescue them from heat stress — a pool, air conditioning, things like that. They have to seek it out in other places,” Harding said.
Summer day shelters across Clark County are open all season, and additional daytime cooling stations offer the homeless and others a refuge from the blazing sun on the hottest days. Most cooling stations, however, aren’t open every day of the week, and some close as early as 2 or 3 p.m., just before the hottest part of the day.
Offering shade, water bottles and access to medical and other resources, the city of Las Vegas’ homeless courtyard is the only consistently available, 24/7 hub for anyone who is homeless. But given the courtyard’s open-air setting, heat stroke and seizures still happen from time to time, said Bobby Hood, a homeless man who frequents the free service.
“We had one guy, a friend of ours, right by this tree right here, he wound up having a heat stroke,” Hood said, gesturing to a large tree in the courtyard that several people were using for shade. “He’s sitting there fine. Then he laid back, and all of a sudden, he couldn’t move.”
Brian Diaz, 43, said he succumbed to severe dehydration as well in early August. The incident landed him in the hospital, but thankfully, he was “back on the road” later that day.
Of course, that meant he was back in the sun as well.
Ahmad recalled having to walk back from North Vista Hospital to the courtyard, a journey of about 1.2 miles, after being discharged from the hospital for dehydration and heat sickness — which potentially put him at risk once again.
“I didn’t make it all the way back here,” he said. “I stopped and found a spot behind some electrical boxes and just fell asleep.”
With average nighttime temperatures rising nationwide and in Las Vegas, evening offers little relief for the homeless in the courtyard, Hood said.
“You’re sleeping under that building over there. All the heat just compacts you. And it’s just too hot,” Hood said.
Kathi Thomas-Gibson, director of community services for the city of Las Vegas, said heat-related medical incidents at the courtyard were uncommon. The city also doesn’t track heat-related medical incidents.
“We’re not medical technicians,” said Jocelyn Bluitt-Fisher, administrator for the community services office.
For the homeless, options for shelter from the sun other than government-run and charity services include casinos, libraries, movie theaters, public buses, sprinkler parks and more. But they have to be mindful about how they present themselves in those spaces so as to not get harassed or kicked out, said Don Nelson, another homeless person who frequents the courtyard.
“If you’re carrying a backpack and aren’t dressed properly, you do get watched — I’m not saying turned away, because they can’t do that — but they keep a closer eye on you when you enter a building,” Nelson said.
Hood said he has been kicked out of many places during the day because he frequently falls asleep randomly due to his sleep apnea.
“I fall asleep all the time, so I can’t go to the library. The last time I went, they kept getting on to me, ‘Hey, you need to wake up, you need to wake up,’” Hood said. “I even went down to the North Vegas Library and wound up getting kicked out of there because I kept falling asleep.”
Nelson seeks out different jobs to escape the heat, because they give him “somewhere to go.” But odd-hour gigs hurt his chances of securing a bed at a shelter later on, he said.
“If you work a night shift, you’re kind of messed up. You can’t get in (a shelter) and you can’t sleep during the day, because you’ve got nowhere to sleep,” Nelson said. “They want you to do something with your life and you try, but you sort of get stuck in a rut.”