ALONGSIDE a bustling US freeway in Phoenix city, a 59-year-old homeless man, Alfred Handley, leaned back in his wheelchair.
A street medicine team was rehydrating him with an IV saline drip hanging from a pole, as cars whooshed by under the blazing 35-degree sun, reported Yahoo News.
Handley, nearly toothless but smiling, appreciated the new health program, Circle the City.
"It's a lot better than going to the hospital," he said, recalling poor treatment at traditional clinics since being struck by a car six years ago.
The program combats life-threatening heat illness among the homeless, who accounted for nearly half of last year's 645 temperature-related deaths in Maricopa County, Arizona.
The care team searches for people in homeless encampments in dry riverbeds, sweltering alleys and along water canals in the Phoenix area.
About 15% are dehydrated enough for a saline drip.
"We go out every day and find them," said nurse practitioner Perla Puebla.
"We do their wound care, medication refills for diabetes, antibiotics, and blood pressure."
Dr Liz Frye, vice chair of the Street Medicine Institute, said, "if that's what needs to happen to keep somebody from dying, I'm all about it".
Health providers from San Diego to New York are now adapting to protect the homeless as concrete jungles continue to heat up.
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