Hello everyone and thanks for joining us for today's Tuesday tip. This week we're going to be taking a look at the Fourth of July and some things that you can do to make sure your residents have a safe, healthy, and happy holiday. One of the prime concerns during the month of July and during the holiday is functional air conditioning. It is a really good idea to make sure that all of your preventive maintenance, filters,

Things like that have been done before the Fourth of July. It's typically a very hot holiday. People are outside. So air conditioning is going to be of critical value to them. Make sure everything is done well before the holiday. Waiting till the last minute may have you running into vendors not being able to come out or the likelihood of more emergency calls. Another great idea is to post signage during heat waves or before heat waves.

Remind residents to keep their entry doors shut or common area entryway doors shut. When they open it, it can allow hot air in, cool air out, and make it difficult for the building to stay cool. Remind residents to stay hydrated. That is key to helping your body regulate temperature. You may want to let them know if there is a heat wave of where they can find cooling stations in town.

typically social services, the town website, senior centers, areas like that do have information on what cooling stations exist in town. So either let them know what ones exist or maybe how to find that information if they need it. Also, it's a great idea to help your residents by providing notice of any severe weather that is coming. If it's expected that there are going to be severe thunderstorms for the next three days.

That's a great idea to let them know. anything like a hurricane warning is a great idea to make sure that they're aware of, and just post notices in places that they're likely to see it. So main areas by the mailboxes, by laundry facilities are great places to post notices. Another great idea is to check on your elderly residents. They're particularly vulnerable in heat waves and sometimes they have really restricted budgets, so they don't always

By an air conditioner. So it is a great idea to just check on residents, make sure that they have a plan if there's a heat wave, find out if they have air conditioning and if there's anything that the property is able to do to assist. Sometimes we can, sometimes we can't, but it's a great idea to know who in your property may be struggling. Again, within reason, there's a limit to what we can ask, there's a limit to what we can provide.

But just checking in is a great idea and you can, if you have a resident services coordinator, ask them to assist you.

One other issue that comes up a lot is grilling. Your property is going to have its own policies regarding whether grills are allowed. It's a great idea to remind residents of this before the holiday so that you don't have any conflicts coming up during the holiday. Make sure you're letting them know if grills are allowed, where they're allowed, what kind of grills are allowed, and

where they should be placed if they are allowed. A certain distance from the buildings, certain areas, etc., to reduce the risk of fire and damage related to that. I think most properties do not allow that, but some do. Some have their own grills and those are the only ones that residents can use. Whatever your policy is, it's just a good idea to remind residents before a very popular grilling holiday of what those policies are.

And finally, fireworks. Now there are typically a large number of fireworks in local areas, and with this being a particularly important 4th of July, there are likely to be more. There are also frequently residents who want to do their own unlicensed fireworks displays. What you tell residents is going to depend on the policy at your property.

But make sure that they are aware of what the policy is and what to do if there's an issue. That can sometimes mean contacting police. And sometimes police will issue materials related to fireworks safety. So you may want to reach out or to take a look at their website, see if they do have any kind of fireworks materials on site. But other than that,

make sure you're reinforcing your policy with people to make sure that everyone is safe. So that's going to do it for some reminders for you for the Fourth of July. We hope you find them useful and we wish all of you a very happy, healthy, and safe holiday. We'll see you on the next Tuesday tip.