In Paterson, a city where on Monday more than 100 people received medical care due to extreme heat exposure at a high school graduation, St. Joseph’s Health Mobile Integrated Health is delivering cold water to people in need.

Rob Bertello, a health manager at St. Joseph’s Health, says the goal of the “Operation Ice Water” program is to ease the strain on the city’s already overburdened emergency response system.

Operation Ice Water, Bertollo said, “will keep going till the heat breaks. Last year we did 10,000 [bottles].”

On Tuesday, Alejandro Walker, a Paterson resident who received water from Bertollo, said, “Yesterday was, oh my god, I thought I was going to die. I got heart surgery, so I have this cold water. It will help a lot.”

Temperatures in parts of New Jersey reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday.

Dennis Castro, director of St. Jospeh’s Mobile Intensive Care Unit, said, “In regards not just to not the regular medical and trauma emergencies, we also have seen an increase in heat-related emergencies where our paramedics have responded to those scenes.”