🌞 Heatstroke, 911 & Tasha with the SPF

Ticks, Ivy & Tenderness — A Midseason Healing Report, Part 2

Photo by Immo Wegmann on Unsplash

A few weeks ago, I worked my last travel nurse shift in Newark, New Jersey.

I still remember the heat — 90+ degrees, patients coming in dry-skinned, confused, pulse racing.

Some were young. Some were unhoused. Some had no idea what was happening to them when their concerned neighbors brought them in-…just in time.

And just a few days ago, while I was in Philly, ( Philadelphia, Pa) my phone lit up: the text message said

911 is down. And will be down for hours. Try again later.

In a city full of heat, concrete, and people just trying to survive —

No ambulance. No dispatcher.

No safety net.

This piece isn’t about panic.

It’s about what we do when systems disappear and heat keeps rising.

Photo by Radvilas Seputis on Unsplash

🌡️ What Heat Stroke Actually Looks Like

It’s not just “I feel a little hot.”

It’s confusion.

It’s fainting.

It’s body temp above 104°F.

It’s organ damage.

It’s death — if we don’t act fast. Heat stroke can kill in under 30 minutes if not treated. It disproportionately affects

🧒🏽 Children

👵🏽 Older adults

🚶🏽‍♀️ Outdoor workers

🏚️ People without housing or AC

🔥 In 2023, over 1,700 Americans died from heat-related causes — disproportionately affecting Black, low-income, and rural communities.

And Black and Brown neighborhoods are more likely to be in “urban heat islands,” areas with fewer trees, more pavement, and up to 7°F higher temps than surrounding neighborhoods.

— Sources: CDC, EPA

☀️ The Sun is Tasha’s Loud Cousin

Tasha the Tick taught us about what bites.

But today’s post isn’t about bugs — it’s about what burns.

And what it means when help can’t come.

So while I was wiping sweat and watching systems fail, guess who showed up again?

Tasha the Tick returns — with sunscreen and side-eye

Clipboard in one leg. SPF in the other. Gold hoops glinting like wisdom.

She landed on my shoulder like she owned the day.

“You can’t call 911? You better call your neighbor, boo.

The sun don’t play — but neither do we.”

Before we keep going, pause.

• Hand to chest.

Take one full breath.

That breath? That’s prevention too.

🧰 Tasha’s No-Buy, No-BS Summer Survival List

✅ Cover your crown.

Scarf, t-shirt, leaf, umbrella. Your scalp is sacred.

✅ Sip often.

Water every 20 mins. Room temp, if you can.

✅ Make your own shade.

Cloth, cardboard, porch roof, parked car shadow — get under something.

✅ Rest. No badge makes you immune.

Sit down. Lay back. Cool your pulse points (neck, armpits, groin).

✅ Feet in water.

Bucket. Basin. Kiddie pool. Let the ground cool you.

✅ Knock and check on your people.

Don’t assume they’re okay. Say something. Show up.

(Uncle Reggie chimes in: “Wet sock on the neck. Old school. Still works.”)

🧴 What If You Don’t Have Sunscreen?

“Ain’t nobody gatekeeping sun protection. If you’re out here, here’s whats been done for generations:”

– Cotton clothes > synthetic trap heat

– Walk before 10am or after 5pm

– Wrap skin in shade-light colored fabrics

– Aloe, shea, or oatmeal rinse for sunburn

– Cold cloth on the back of your neck

– Stay still when you can. That’s healing, too.

– If you can: grow mint or lemon balm — cooling herbs that love hot soil and help us slow down

Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash

✊🏾 What Community Protection Really Looks Like

This isn’t about whether 911 comes.

It’s about who we become when it doesn’t.

Community safety looks like:

• A water drop-off on a neighbor’s porch

• A shared fan in a shared room

• A buddy system for elders

• Someone watching your back if you pass out on the walk home

And yes — sometimes it looks like a tick with a clipboard reminding you to sit your ass down.

The sun has no mercy. But we do.

We carry wet cloth, sliced melon, porch chairs, and ancestral pause.

We make shade where none exists.

We build rituals from rhythm, not rush.

• 🧠 Legacy Tip: Mental Cooling is Real

Remember how your skin feels after the beach? That first breeze after saltwater — soft, cool, calming. Or how it feels to pull a towel gritty with sand, over your skin scorched shoulders from a day too long in the sun —

That feeling. That ahh..…..Cool breath.

~Relief. Your body says thank you.

If you can feel that moment —

That’s body wisdom.…legacy. (And yes, it’s a little magic.)

Our elders knew how to bring that feeling back — no ocean needed.

“Tell yourself it’s winter.”

We’d pause, curious. Really?

But they were teaching us mind power. Mental training.

These days, they call it visualization or somatic regulation —

• fancy terms for what our Elders already knew. We didn’t always get it then. But now.

  Trust your body memory more than the system’s silence.

  It knows what cooling feels like.

  It knows what care should feel like.

  And it will remind you — if you listen.

Cooling starts in the mind. And it works. Granny and Granps said so.

Photo by Emily Bauman on Unsplash

🌿 Ritual for the Overheated & Overlooked

Hand to chest.

Feet on ground.

Breath in slow.

“I give myself permission to slow down.

I release urgency I never agreed to.

I am sacred even in sweat.

I protect this vessel — not just today, but always.”

🐞 Tasha’s Final Word:

“Protect your melanin. Protect your mind. Protect your people.

SPF and Silence are both resistance.”

SPF — because your skin deserves care.

Not just after the burn, before the sting.

Before the lie that said we don’t need it.

And. Silence — because you can’t hear your body’s wisdom through all the noise.

Your breath. Your tension. That inner knowing needs quiet to rise.

SPF says I care.

Silence says I’m listening.

Both say: I resist And protect us.

Photo by Mpho Mojapelo on Unsplash

🔁 Full Circle

This isn’t just extreme weather. It’s a predictable outcome of intentional neglect. And we’re not waiting for systems to fix what they were never built to hold.

911 was down.

But the sun wasn’t.

Neither were we.

When systems collapse, community carries.

When the help line drops, we still show up.

In this heat — that kind of care could save a life.