Pueblo Fire Department answering more heat-related calls

People in Pueblo felt the heat Wednesday- literally.

The Pueblo Fire Department is seeing a rise in the number of heat-related calls.
Consistently high temperatures are causing many people to struggle with heat-related illnesses.

So this time of year, the fire department is equipped with tools ready to treat those illnesses.

“Anytime we have high temperatures like this, we are always concerned that it will be heat-related,” Erik Duran said.

But Duran says the calls don’t initially come in as heat related.

“People feeling dizzy, nausea, all of these not all of the time, but sometimes can be attributed to being out in the heat and not taking care of yourself,” Duran said.

When the fire department arrives, one of the essentials for treatment is oxygen.

“By allowing them to get the oxygen they need, the body can tend to regulate itself at that point,” Duran said.

In serious cases, IV fluids are necessary.

“If they’re at this level, they’re probably going to go to the hospital,” Duran said.

In cases severe enough, patients come through the doors of a hospital, to get the proper treatment they need.

“We immediately begin a cooling process with wet towels, cold iced saline that we administer intravenously,” the director of emergency services with St. Mary Corwin Medical Center, Patrick Stanifer said. “We’re trying to drop their temperature very rapidly.”

Emergency room doctors are seeing more student athletes this time of year. Stanifer urges parents to be aware of key symptoms.

“If your student athlete comes home, and they’re nauseated, they have a headache, they may even have mental status changes or personality changes,” Stanifer said.

If they don’t cool down, it’s then time to take them to a hospital.

While first responders are getting more calls for service, the St. Mary Corwin Emergency Department has not had a case of heatstroke yet this summer.