In France, a new role for postmen: helping elderly people living alone cope with the heat

France is facing a scorching summer that has claimed tens of thousands of victims, mostly elderly. The government has decided to send postmen to check on residents living alone during their mail delivery rounds. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu wrote to mayors that postal workers are often the only ones in contact with this population. The health service recorded 5,764 deaths between June 17 and July 2, an excess mortality rate of 36%, and about 6,000 more in an earlier heat wave.

France is dealing with an exceptionally hot summer that has so far claimed the lives of tens of thousands of citizens, mostly elderly. The government has decided to implement an emergency policy in which postmen will take on an additional role: checking on the well-being of elderly and people living alone during their mail delivery rounds. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu wrote in a letter to mayors that postal workers are often the only ones in contact with this population. The French health service recorded 5,764 deaths between June 17 and July 2, an excess mortality rate of 36%, in addition to about 6,000 deaths in an earlier heat wave in June, 75% of them aged 75 and over. In the resort town of Aix-les-Bains, 13% of the 30,000 residents are 75 or older, and the town has opened the air-conditioned lobby of its cultural center to the public. A postman from Lyon, Farès Sefri, told of helping an elderly woman who was about to faint from the heat. The CEO of the meteorological service Météo-France said there have been more heat waves in the last 15 years than in the previous 60, with a projected fivefold increase by 2050.