Dr. Dolores Gomez, program director for the Southern NM Family Medicine Residency Program in Las Cruces, shares important information for staying safe in extreme heat. For more information on heat safety, you can visit the CDC's website .
KC:
What do we see locally, in terms of how people respond in these negative ways to heat by the time you see them?
Dr. Gomez:
Yeah. I think we live in the desert Southwest and you know, we want to say that we're very heat tolerant overall, and we do get acclimated to kind of the heat. We get used to it being in this area, but our bodies physiologically can only manage to a certain point and definitely at the start of those upper 90s, triple digit weather, our bodies have to get used to that every year and so very early on, I think we probably overestimate how hardy we are; and we can be out in the sun and not be prepared for how to kind of react to that amount of heat and how our bodies going to respond to that. So, beginning of the season always is tough when the temperature goes up and we get a little overconfident that we can handle that heat, and our bodies can only manage so well.
KC:
Let's talk a little bit about what people might experience and how to know if you are in trouble.
Dr. Gomez:
Yeah. So, I think the first thing is people will start noticing that fatigue early, especially if you're working outside. You start exerting yourself and you notice that you start getting a little fatigued a little quicker than you expect. I think most people will start to feel a little light-headed. Those first little signs, like, maybe I need to take a break. Maybe I need to make sure I'm staying hydrated and not just water, but also kind of replacing electrolytes, right? Our body's natural evaporative system is to sweat. And when we sweat, it's not just water loss. We lose electrolytes, specifically sodium. And so we want to make sure we're replacing those. So you start to feel a little fatigued. You get a little lightheaded. Those are kind of those first early warnings to say I need to maybe take a break.
KC:
Should I be eating more salt?
Dr. Gomez:
You can eat salt, but there's definitely better ways of kind of putting that back in. Right now, there are so many different electrolyte drinks that are out there that you can do and just making sure you have that handy along with your water, because you need a combination of both, not just the water, and especially if you're going to be outside for more than 20 or 30 minutes at a time and outside of just putting fluids back in, what can you do to protect yourself from the sun? So, wearing a hat, wearing appropriate clothing is going to help keep you cool as well. So those are some very simple things that we can do to kind of help keep us prepared for that hotter weather.
KC:
In recent years, legislatures around the country, I think the conversation about heat is really becoming a bigger topic of conversation for policy-making bodies because we haven't done as well at protecting workers from heat as we have from other things. I know in New Mexico the legislature took up that issue. The policy is being delayed just a little bit and I think one of the things is people need extra time to be ready. But I'd like just to get your thoughts on policy making and protecting people from heat. What do you think is important?
Dr. Gomez:
Oh, yeah, absolutely. It's important, especially people who are going to be outdoors for several hours, you want to be able to make sure that people can take breaks. And so, you need to have those plans in place. I said it earlier, especially at the beginning, our bodies have to get used to it and it's not 100% that we get back used to it. We have to be able to acclimate our bodies to that. But you also have to be prepared to step away, because that sun will cause damage and it can cause significant damage where you start to have organ dysfunction happening. And that's when we get them in the hospital, is when they're kind of already too far gone and we can't - employers can't just say, oh, you know, they'll get used to it. We'll just make sure they have water out there. You have to kind of put things around that to allow people to step away from that environment for a window to let their bodies recover.
KC:
Let's talk a little bit about more vulnerable populations. When we talk about illnesses, we talk about vulnerable populations. Does that exist with heat exposure as well?
Dr. Gomez:
Yeah, absolutely. You know, the way our bodies can respond to that, definitely in our older population, you know, I think right now the heat's gotten so much more severe here in New Mexico where before you could get away with the swamp coolers. When those temperatures get above 90, you know that's not going to be there, so you need that refrigerated air and a lot of our homes that are here in Las Cruces for a long time don't have that. So, people are going to be more vulnerable and definitely our elderly are. But I also want to say that as Summer football comes on, our athletes are at risk as well. They're out there, you know, they may start at 8:00, but they're practicing up until noon when that temperature starts to rise and so our athletes and those that are out there doing that can be just as vulnerable as well. And I think they can be just as much because again, they think they're not vulnerable. And you know, there's that toughness that you have to push an athlete and you know that that's how you're going to build strength and it's not true. You can have them out there. But again, the same thing. You have to apply that idea that they have to have break times. They have to have fluids, they have to have electrolytes in order to be able to be out there for a prolonged period.
