GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, there were 75 cold-related deaths last year in the state.
Some local shelters, like the NEW Community Shelter in Green Bay, are preparing to help those who may not have a place to stay warm.
Today will likely be the coldest day this week, so they’ll be opening a warming shelter and doing a lunch service in addition to their usual dinner service.
Staff will be making sure those in attendance have proper cold-weather attire. And they say they do see people who have had too much exposure to the cold.
Terri Refsguard is the Executive Director of the NEW Community Shelter, and tells FOX 11 they’ve seen people come in with frostbite “severe enough that it required medical attention.”
“So I think that’s why as a community, we’re so diligent and we’re gonna make sure that nobody is gonna be out sleeping in the cold.”
Wind chills in some spots could result in frostbite symptoms in exposed skin in as little as 30 minutes.
Frostbite can set in much faster when it’s windy out.
That’s why it is such a problem this time of year– and why shelters are so mindful of these extreme conditions.
