Chicago reports first heat-related death of season

CHICAGO - A 95-year-old woman who died last month on the Northwest Side is Chicago’s first heat-related death of the season.

Autopsy results released Monday revealed the Montclare neighborhood woman died July 2 of heat exposure at Community First Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Heart disease was listed as a contributing factor.

Chicago recorded a high temperature of 91 degrees the day of her death, according to the National Weather Service.

So far this season, two other people have died from heat-related causes in Cook County.

On July 9, an 18-year-old Elmwood Park man died of heat stroke at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Melrose Park, the medical examiner’s office said. An autopsy found he died of heat-related causes with Angelman Syndrome — a genetic disorder with nerve-related symptoms — as a contributing factor. That day, the weather service recorded a high temperature of 93 degrees.

The first-heat related death of the summer in Cook County happened June 27 in suburban Oak Lawn. A 54-year-old woman died of heat stroke in the 4600 block of West 95th Street, the medical examiner’s office said. Temperatures climbed up to nearly 90 degrees the day of her death, according to the weather service.

Last summer, five heat-related deaths were reported in Cook County.