Heat Takes Toll on Young and Old : Weather: Though vulnerable to high temperatures, some seniors must choose between cool air and companionship.

On days like this, when the temperature rises to scorching and the two fans that he found in a dumpster can’t cool his apartment, 74-year-old Lavhan Watson gets in his Buick, drives across the street and parks the car in the coolest spot he can find.

“I came over here just to get out of there,” Watson said, standing in a parking lot on Sepulveda Boulevard, across from his North Hills apartment. “It’s hot in there--plus I get claustrophobic.”

And sometimes the heat takes an even greater toll on him. “I get depressed awful easy,” he said, sipping on a water bottle.

Watson is not alone.

Medical experts say older people are particularly vulnerable to extreme heat. The biggest danger to the elderly is heat stroke, a sharp increase in body temperature that can lead to faintness, loss of consciousness or even death, said Dr. Richard Minter, director of geriatrics at Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center.

And as the temperature rises, older people in particular should take precautions to avoid heat stroke and other heat-related problems.

“It’s pretty deadly if you aren’t treated right away,” Minter said. “The elderly have less margin of error for their physiology.”

At the Pacoima Multipurpose Senior Citizens Center, staff members have cautioned members about the heat and how to survive it.

“We’re encouraging them to keep calm, stay inside as much as possible and drink plenty of liquids,” said Rev. Alicia Broadous-Duncan.

Ironically, those words of advice take on greater importance to those seniors using the Pacoima center because each day of searing heat forces them to make a difficult choice:

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They can spend their days at the center, eating lunch, exercising, playing bingo with their friends----and sweltering in un-air-conditioned rooms.

Or, they can stay alone in their homes--cooler and more comfortable--but without the camaraderie and activities they find at the center.

“I’d rather come up here than stay at home,” said 82-year-old Sarah Casstevens, sitting at a lunch table Wednesday afternoon. “Why should I stay home and look at four walls. . .? It would be nice if we had air-conditioning here.”

But the heat may be keeping many more in their homes. At noon Wednesday, only about seven people sat down in the lunch room for a meal of roast beef, broccoli, mashed potatoes and lemon pudding.

Normally about 50 people show up to eat each day, said site manager Virgia) Bryant.

“It’s too hot today,” she said. “They’re not coming out.”

The room where center members eat lunch is not air-conditioned, nor is the room that houses the center’s day-care program for older people with Alzheimer’s and dementia.

“They have big fans but they’re stirring up hot air,” Broadous-Duncan said.

And running the portable fans causes the power to go out periodically, she explained while sitting in a dark and very warm office. When the power goes out, the phones go too.

The heat was so bad one day, she sent everybody home.

“It’s so unfair to this population,” said Broadous-Duncan, her face glistening with sweat. “It’s not conducive for them to come, but they come anyway because this is their outlet.”

Dr. Don Jong, assistant emergency room chief at Kaiser Permanente hospital in Woodland Hills, said persistent hot weather often worsens the condition of people with existing problems like heart disease or diabetes, giving them additional symptoms such as chest pain.

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About five such patients a day have shown up at the hospital since the heat wave began. “Because of their debilitated status, you see them get tipped over the cliff with the added stress” of a heat wave, Jong said.

Authorities said they have seen few serious heat-related problems so far, but that could change if the heat continues.

At the Pacoima Center, workers and volunteers have phoned all homebound and particularly frail seniors to check on their conditions, Broadous-Duncan said.

Those who attend the center will continue to choose between companionship and comfort for at least a few more weeks--or until the heat spell ends. The center was scheduled to move into a new air-conditioned building this week, but because of building delays that date has been pushed back.

For seniors like Watson, however, staying cool--and healthy--boils down to the two salvaged fans he repaired, a Buick and a water bottle.

“ ‘Bout all I can do is find a shady place where it’s cool,” said the Texas native. “You just trying to run away from something when you know you can’t.”