It wasn’t unusual for the thermostat in Monica Browne’s Belfast nursing home to read in the mid-80s during the hot, sticky summer of 2022. Residents would sit in the common areas or lay in their beds, sweating and uncomfortable, but unable to do anything to escape the heat.

Jessica Browne was able to install a window air conditioning unit in her mother's bedroom, but other residents, including many who couldn't speak, were not so lucky, she said. Browne recalled one resident begging a nurse for relief.

“With climate change upon us, it is getting to a point, even here in Maine, where keeping cool in the summer is just as critical as keeping warm in the winter,” she said. “It is becoming a necessity, not a luxury, especially for the vulnerable.”

Last summer was Maine's hottest on record

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