By KELSEY AINSWORTH
Northeast News
July 4, 2012

Northeast’s elderly are keeping cool this summer through a program called Project ElderCool.

Over the last week temperatures in Kansas City have soared to as high as 100 degrees, making this program essential to individuals without air conditioning.

ElderCool is a program sponsored by the Bishop Sullivan Center to help elderly people acquire much-needed air conditioning units for the summer. Through the ElderCool program, a professional installs a window air conditioner in the resident’s home at no charge.

Since it was established in 2000, ElderCool has installed more than 4,000 air conditioners in the Kansas City area.

“This program is highly necessary,” said Kim Clough of the Bishop Sullivan Center. “Especially with older people on medication that might thin their blood, we have greatly reduced the number of heat related deaths in the area.”

Clough said there were 21 heat related deaths in 2000, the year ElderCool was founded. Since that time, that number has decreased significantly, she said.

To qualify for ElderCool you must be 65 years or older, meet poverty guidelines and not already have air conditioning in your home.

A.B. May has decided to be the corporate sponsor for ElderCool for a fifth summer in a row. A.B. May matched the first $10,000 that was donated to ElderCool in the 2012 summer.

Want to help? A $90 donation will provide an air conditioner for an elderly person in Kansas City. Visit www.bishopsullivancenter.com for more information on this life-saving project.