Heat & Words of Wisdom

I just copied this advisory note from the weather station in Wakefield. I think we need to be reminded of this from time to time and in particular Aimee :-)

...ARE YOU PLANNING TO SPEND SOME TIME OUTSIDE TODAY?...

THE LEVEL OF HEAT AND HUMIDITY WON'T BE INTOLERABLE BUT IT IS EARLY IN THE YEAR TO EXPERIENCE SUCH WARM CONDITIONS. AS A RESULT...SOME PEOPLE MIGHT EXPERIENCE STRAIN ON THEIR BODIES IF THEY DON'T TAKE A FEW SIMPLE PRECAUTIONS AGAINST THE UNSEASONABLY WARM TEMPERATURES.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER IS TO REMAIN HYDRATED. IF EXERCISING OR WORKING OUTSIDE...DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS. WATER IS YOUR BEST CHOICE. ALSO REMEMBER TO MAKE SURE OUTDOOR PETS AND LIVESTOCK HAVE AN ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF WATER. IF YOU'RE FEELING EXCESSIVELY TIRED OR ARE SWEATING A LOT...THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF HEAT EXHAUSTION. TAKE A BREAK FOR AN HOUR OR TWO.

ALSO...THE SUN IS AS STRONG NOW AS IT IS IN LATE AUGUST. IF OUTSIDE FOR AN EXTENDED DURATION...ESPECIALLY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY... WEAR SUNBLOCK AND A HAT TO PREVENT SUNBURN AND LIGHT COLORED CLOTHING TO STAY COOL.

Be warned everyone - sunstroke is no laughing matter!! And watch out for the critters!!

You are so right, Louisa! The number one thing is to stay hydrated!! Drink lots of water and if you are taking a diuretic medication, have been sick including diarrhea/nausea recently or are hungover (all three are things that will suck water right out of your system), stay out of the heat!!

When I did my time as a volunteer EMT with the local EMS, we picked up our share of people who didn't heed this warning. I remember one man who was beet red and unconscious when we got there. We loaded him in the back of the ambulance as fast as humanly possible, turned the A/C on HIGH, ripped his clothes off, wet him down and put ice packs under arms, back of knees, back of neck, crotch, and everywhere else we could. By this time, atleast 10 minutes had passed and we finally had time to take his temp ~ after all that, it was still 106. He died. SO sad.

Besides the excessive fatigue and more-than-normal sweating, here are more symptoms:
dizziness ~ take a break in the shade, drink some water, wait for cooler weather to go back to working.
seeing spots in front of the eyes ~ take a break!!!! drink some water!!! and wait for cooler weather to go back to working. If the dizziness and/or spots don't go away, or they are accompanied by any of the symptoms below, get to the hospital.
nausea ~ get inside NOW, get in a cold shower and call an ambulance.
not sweating after having been earlier ~ do the above NOW!!!!! and call a neighbor to come sit with you in case you lose consciousness.
chills ~ you're probably going into shock. This usually happens after you've quit sweating, but doesn't always. Regardless, it's a serious thing if you've already experienced more than one of the above symptoms. In this case, call an ambulance and a neighbor!
beet red skin ~ different than a sunburn. Sunburns are regular old bright red ~ this is dark red. This is caused by blood leaving the core of your body and filling every blood vessel near the surface of the skin in an atempt to rid itself of the excess heat. You are in serious trouble at this point.
loss of consciousness ~ Once it reaches this point, you'll be lucky to come out of this alive, if you consider very possible brain damage lucky.

I do not apologize for being so blunt about this. Too many people think they're superhuman and don't pay attention to this. Luckily, many of the people I've known who've become overheated just made it to the nausea stage and they went inside. But if you've ever been overheated, even only to that point, there's a good chance that you won't be able to take heat of any severity again. That'll put a serious kink in your gardening!

Good post but I bet not everybody heeds it!! I daren't think about the animals!!