New Haven Independent

“We need to make a place for seniors,” said Darcey Cobbs, director of the city’s Elderly Services Department. “We try to be responsible and provide transportation as well.”

The city calls those places “cooling centers.”

On days with temperatures in the 90s, the senior centers are cool and open and the hours at East Shore and Dixwell Senior Centers are extended. Transportation, always available during regular hours, also extends until 8 p.m.

Later in the week the city will begin providing fans and bottled water free of charge to seniors. The items will be distributed at senior centers acoss the city. Fan giveaways will be prioritized: if you have air conditioning, give a fan to a neighbor who doesn’t.

Vi Guglielmi works in social services at East Shore. She said the crowd wasn’t any bigger at the lunch hour and she couldn’t say whether people would utilize the longer hours either.

“People may not even want to go out at all,” she said. “But the doors will be open.”