'...Summer in the City'

Local News

Tips for coping in the heat

Here are some heat tips from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention:
• Drink more fluids (nonalcoholic), regardless of your activity level. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to drink. Warning: if your doctor generally limits the amount of fluid you drink or has you on water pills, ask him how much you should drink while the weather is hot.
• Don’t drink liquids that contain alcohol or large amounts of sugar; these actually cause you to lose more body fluid. Also, avoid very cold drinks, because they can cause stomach cramps.
• Stay indoors and, if at all possible, stay in an air-conditioned place. If your home does not have air conditioning, go to the shopping mall or public library — even a few hours spent in air conditioning can help your body stay cooler when you go back into the heat. Call your local health department to see if there are any heat-relief shelters in your area.
• Electric fans may provide comfort, but when the temperature is in the high 90s, fans will not prevent heat-related illness. Taking a cool shower or bath, or moving to an air-conditioned place, is a much better way to cool off.
• Wear lightweight, light-colored, loose-fitting clothing.
• NEVER leave anyone in a closed, parked vehicle.
• Although any one at any time can suffer from heat-related illness, some people are at greater risk than others. Check regularly on infants and young children; people aged 65 or older; people who have a mental illness; and those who are physically ill, especially with heart disease or high blood pressure.
• Visit adults at risk at least twice a day and closely watch them for signs of heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Infants and young children, of course, need much more frequent watching.
If you must be out in the heat:
• Limit your outdoor activity to morning and evening hours.
• Cut down on exercise. If you must exercise, drink two to four glasses of cool, nonalcoholic fluids each hour. A sports beverage can replace the salt and minerals you lose in sweat. Warning: If you are on a low-salt diet, talk with your doctor before drinking a sports beverage.
• Try to rest often in shady areas.
• Protect yourself from the sun by wearing a wide-brimmed hat (also keeps you cooler) and sunglasses and by putting on sunscreen of SPF 15 or higher (the most effective products say “broad spectrum” or “UVA/UVB protection” on their labels)

Related Photos

P. J. Lawson works to remove a busted stud from a wheel at Casey’s Tires and Brakes, 805 W. Highway 82 in Gainesville. Lawson, of Gainesville, has worked with Casey Klement for more than nine years. The “feel-like” temperature when this photo was taken Wednesday was 111 degrees and the temperature of the concrete exceeded 125 degrees. The week ahead will remain very hot. Staff photo by Roger Ballas

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June 28, 2012

'...Summer in the City'

Take precautions playing, working in triple-digit temps

By GREG RUSSELL, Register Staff Writer Gainesville Daily Register The Daily Register Thu Jun 28, 2012, 09:46 AM CDT

Gainesville — The current heat can’t be beaten, but officials insist local residents should keep up the fight.

Temperatures climbed into the triple-digits during the past week — and are forecast to stay in or near that domain through the month, with expected rises in July and August.

And while the heat safety tips of hydration and frequent breaks while outdoors may seem obvious, they bear repeating.

“Hopefully, people are taking precautions,” said Gayla Blanton, director of marketing at North Texas Medical Center (NTMC). “Last summer was so hot that we saw a number of people working outdoors getting overheated, and we expect to see that now, if temperatures continue to rise. That’s typical of us.”

Blanton said her hospital hasn’t treated any life-threatening cases of overheating, such as heat strokes, in recent years. But heat exhaustion cases sometimes occur locally, and Blanton said this appears to be most common among outdoor workers such as construction and road laborers.

“They think they’re drinking enough,” she said. “And sometimes they’ve just underestimated their fluids.”

Blanton said a typical heat exhaustion patient receives ice packs and cooling blankets in efforts to lower temperature, and the situation is easily resolved. But heat stroke victims — unconscious, severely reddened, skin hot and dry to the touch — are more dire emergency patients who require intravenous saline drips.

“If they’re coming into the ER, they need more than just Gatorade,” she said.

Blanton said heat exhaustion prevention tips are simple: plenty of fluids and breaks when working outdoors. She credited organizations such as the Texas Department of Transportation, who have made mandates out of those tips.

“They take precautions,” she said. “They make their workers take plenty of breaks and they have tons of water on their trucks in this kind of heat.”

Jason Ewing of Ewing Heating & Air, who works indoors and outdoors, said he relies on plenty of water and wet neck wraps to help him handle his tasks. He also admitted summer months are reliable boosters to his business, explaining that heat waves are always the make-or-break test for air conditioners.

“It’s going to run to the extreme and you’ll find out pretty quick if the unit is going to handle it during this heat,” he said.

Ewing added that during a weather-related rush, his Gainesville company serves between five and eight customers per day, and that in his case, having fewer of them is better than having more.

“If you try and see 10 to 15 customers in a day, you’re going to be doing a lot of shortcutting,” he said.

Cooke County Fire Marshal Ray Fletcher said the county emergency offices get a steady share of calls related to victims of overheating. He said not much can be done for the situation beyond advising residents to take the reliable steps to stay cool and hydrated.

“Most people around here are used to it, because we’ve lived with it all along,” Fletcher said.

The fire marshal also added that in spite of the high temperatures, the summer’s local moisture levels have been agreeable so far. Rains during spring months and June have kept the county in better stead than experienced during 2011, where scorching heat and dry conditions turned Cooke County into an arid region of brown and yellow grasslands.

During 2012, county officials have been able to avoid instituting burn bans since sporadic heavy rains have moistened the grounds, and Fletcher said this is desired.

“We hope for more intermittent rain as the summer continues,” he said. “An inch or two every few weeks is enough to keep it green and keep us out of that fire danger. But whether that happens is anyone’s guess. We’ll continue to monitor and act accordingly.”

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