Phoenix, known as America’s hottest big city, is experiencing its first heat wave of the season. The extreme temperatures have prompted the Phoenix Fire Department to adopt new tactics to save more lives in a county that saw 645 heat-related deaths last year. One of these tactics is cold water immersion therapy, a medical technique commonly used by marathon runners and military service members. Phoenix hospitals have recently adopted this protocol, and now, the fire and paramedics personnel will also use it on every patient showing signs of heat stroke.
Cold water immersion therapy involves immersing heatstroke victims in ice on their way to the hospital. Fire Capt. John Prato demonstrated this method by packing ice cubes inside a blue bag around a medical dummy representing a patient. He explained that this therapy can significantly lower body temperature within minutes. The goal is to improve patient survivability, and there have already been cases where critical patients were brought back before even reaching the emergency room.
To ensure that cold water immersion therapy can be readily administered, ice and human-sized immersion bags have become standard equipment on all Phoenix Fire Department emergency vehicles. This is just one of the measures the city has adopted to combat the rising temperatures and their toll on human lives. For the first time, Phoenix is keeping two cooling stations open overnight this season.
The National Weather Service has issued excessive heat warnings for parts of southern Nevada and Arizona, with temperatures expected to exceed 110 degrees Fahrenheit in Las Vegas and Phoenix. This weather pattern is said to be the hottest since last September. The unseasonably hot weather is also expected to spread northward into parts of the Pacific Northwest.
The urgency to implement new tactics stems from the alarming number of heat-related deaths in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix. Last year alone, there were 645 heat-related deaths in the county, with the majority occurring in Phoenix. A particularly brutal heat wave with consecutive days of temperatures exceeding 110 degrees Fahrenheit claimed over 400 lives. Dr. Paul Pugsley, the medical director of emergency medicine with Valleywise Health, notes that severe heat illness cases have been increasing in the past three years, with a survival rate of only 60%.
The use of cold water immersion therapy could change the equation and improve survival rates. Dr. Pugsley acknowledges that the technique is not widely used in non-military hospitals or among first responders. However, there are some hospitals and fire departments, such as Stanford Medical Center in California and the San Antonio Fire Department in Texas, that have started using it. Banner University Medical Center in Phoenix has also embraced the protocol.
Dr. Aneesh Narang, the assistant medical director of emergency medicine at Banner University Medical Center, emphasizes that cold water immersion therapy is now considered the standard of care for treating heatstroke patients. By adopting this protocol and other measures, Phoenix aims to mitigate the impact of extreme heat and save more lives.
