Belgian elderly care home beats the heat with paddling pool

Staff at a Belgian care home set up a paddling pool in the dining room and handed out ice creams on Tuesday as they helped elderly residents cope with a heatwave gripping much of Europe. Windows were kept shut, the garden ruled out of bounds and fitness classes were cancelled at the Ter Biest home in Grimbergen, north of Brussels, as temperatures climbed.

Instead, staff handed out hats, played music and helped residents who wanted to dip their feet into the small pool. “People don’t really feel they have to drink a lot, so they can get dehydrated and it’s really dangerous for older people,” said stand-in manager Annick Van huylenbroeck.

“It’s different now. It’s warmer than it used to be,” said 91-year-old resident Lucienne Verbelen. The Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium said it was 37.7 degrees Celsius on parts of the Belgian coast at 1300 GMT and that the Brussels neighbourhood of Uccle had registered its warmest July 19 ever at 36.4 degrees.

(Production by Bart Biesemans and Johnny Cotton, Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

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