The Mayor’s Office of Constituent Services and Atlanta Fire Rescue Department announced a partnership with SCANA Energy to provide Atlanta’s seniors with fans and air-conditioning units to help them stay cool this summer. For the fifteenth consecutive year, SCANA Energy has donated the fans and units to the Mayor’s Office of Constituent Services for distribution to low-income, elderly residents. Fans and air-conditioning units were distributed and raffled off at an event yesterday at the C.A Scott Recreation Center in Southwest Atlanta.

“Atlanta’s seniors are vital to our city, and it is important we do everything we can to ensure they stay cool and safe this summer,” said Mayor Kasim Reed. “The city values our 15-year partnership with SCANA Energy. Their donation of new fans and air-conditioning units helps to ensure that our most vulnerable residents remain comfortable during the hot summer months.”

Atlanta’s summertime temperatures make fan giveaways especially important. Elderly people, age 65 and older, are more susceptible to heat-related illnesses than younger people for a number of reasons:

• Elderly people do not adjust as well as young people to sudden changes in temperature;

• They are more likely to have a chronic medical condition that changes normal body responses to heat; and

• They are more likely to take prescription medications that inhibit perspiration or impair the body's ability to regulate its temperature.

“SCANA Energy is proud and honored to continue our longstanding partnership with Mayor Kasim Reed, the City of Atlanta, and the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department,” said George Devlin, vice president and general manager of SCANA Energy. “We are pleased to provide critical cooling relief through our fan donation again this year to low-income, elderly residents of Atlanta. For the first time, to commemorate the fifteenth year of our partnership, and in response to the increasing need, we are pleased to also donate air-conditioning units to fifteen of our most vulnerable senior citizens.”