Outdoor workers, elderly among most vulnerable in winter weather

Dealing with daily plummeting temperatures can be concerning for the city's most vulnerable. For those who call the outdoors their workplace, they're bracing for more bitter cold.

If you have to venture outside, you know what to do: dress in layers and cover exposed skin.
But for those who make a living working outdoors, that task can be difficult.

"I can't even bend down," construction worker Tony Arnanda said.

A construction worker for 27 years, Arnanda knows plenty about Chicago winters. Most importantly, he knows when his body has reached it's cold limit.

"When your hands start burning, your feet start burning and you can't feel them no more. It's time to warm up,” Arnanda said.

For the elderly, determining how cold is too cold can be difficult, that's where outreach workers come in. On Tuesday night, they knocked on doors to check on the elderly.

“If they want to go to a shelter, a warm place to go, we offer shelter placement,” Lakisha Dykes, an outreach worker, said. “We can refer the case to the department of aging so they can get some kind of assistance, as far as long-term care, as far as meals on wheels. Home health aid. If they need transportation to get to a family member's house because it's so cold."