EMSA ends heat alert after almost two weeks of high temperatures

EMSA has ended its almost two-week heat warning after receiving 41 reports of heat-related illnesses.

According to EMSA, a heat alert will be terminated when doctors see a decrease in both temperatures and the number of calls for heat-related illnesses.

EMSA issued the warning on June 23 after receiving five calls about heat-related illnesses within 24 hours.

“During this entire period, we received 41 emergency calls for heat-related illnesses to which our physicians responded, and we hospitalized 25 patients due to their symptoms,” said Kimberly Querry of EMSA.

According to Querry, doctors are seeing people of all ages affected by the heat, but those who work outdoors tend to struggle the most.

“These may be people who work outdoors, garden or exercise outside and who simply don’t take those heat precautions because they’re normally indoors,” she said.

She says it’s still a bit early in the summer to see such high numbers.

“Most of our heat-related calls usually come in around the end of July, August, sometimes even the beginning of September. But we’re just in the beginning of July and we’ve already had 82 heat-related calls this year in the eastern part alone,” she said.

Querry says doctors are treating a lot of people affected by the temperatures, so it’s a great thing that temperatures are now starting to drop.

“When you have constant triple-digit temperatures, it often seems like you never get a break. So it’s nice when the temperatures drop a little bit and we give ourselves a little time to get used to it. Then they go back up,” she said.

She says that when it’s hot, the most important things to remember are to drink plenty of fluids well before going outside, wear loose-fitting, light-colored clothing, and take regular breaks in the shade or indoors.