Recent temperatures bringing more heat-related emergency calls
By Jenna Wilson
With the recent heat wave, Buchanan County EMS crew members are seeing an uptick in weather-related calls and cautioning the public to stay hydrated.
Summer months can bring on extreme temperatures and lead to people experiencing distress, whether it’s from working in the yard, exercising outdoors or attending a social event.
“We’re in the middle of summer,” Andrew King, a Buchanan County EMS paramedic said. “We have people doing practices with sports, going to things like the Chiefs camp and even all the crews that are working throughout town on the streets. People are being exposed to the heat all the time. So, when we have these extreme heat we have a huge concern with people that are getting over exhausted, overheated and dehydrated.”
Since June 1, EMS has responded to more than 30 heat-related incidents on routine calls.
However, during Chiefs training camp so far, EMS crews have tended to more than 88 people with more than 50 of those cases being heat-related.
Officials advise people to watch for the signs of heat-related stress, which can begin as cramping. If that escalates to profuse sweating as well as a weak or rapid pulse or even nausea and dizziness, then someone’s verging on experiencing heat exhaustion and possibly heat stroke.
“Those are things that we need to watch for in ourselves as well as the people that we’re with,” King said. “Sometimes, once we start getting to those levels where we’re altered, we don’t realize that we’re in an emergency anymore.”
People are advised to drink plenty of water, take frequent breaks out of the sun and check up on relatives, co-workers and neighbors.
“If you know you’re going to be outside in some extreme temperatures exerting yourself or doing a lot of sweating, build up that hydration level,” King said. “And continue to be hydrated throughout the day by making sure you’re drinking lots of water. If you’re sweating profusely, you want to replace it with those sports drinks because they’re going to have those electrolytes and salts that we need that water doesn’t have.”
Another piece of advice people should follow is to avoid energy drinks, caffeine and alcohol while outside in high temperatures as they increase chances of dehydration.
