Historical June 1976 health column; period treatments and recommendations are reproduced as source material, not current medical guidance.
A heat wave in June?
No, the people at the Clinic haven’t gone crazy with the heat, we’re just anticipating the Paper’s summer recess, and want to prepare our neighbors for St. Louis’ ultra-hot, ultra-humid summers.
When (not if) the HEAT WAVE comes, we urge you to do the [word missing or unclear in source] honored thing: sit in your deck chair and drink cool beverages! Hot-and-humid isn’t the time to take up jogging, or lie under your car on hot asphalt whilst learning about auto mechanics.
In hot weather, you sweat; the evaporating sweat cools the body. Humid weather slows down evaporation, and a lack of fluids slows down sweating, which is an explanation of why hot, humid weather is worse than hot, dry weather. Sweat is also salty—ever get in your eyes? Thus, the sweating body may need extra salt; but if you are on a salt-restricted diet, check with your doctor about how much more salt you may need.
The classic heat related conditions: HEAT STROKE, HEAT CRAMPS, and HEAT EXHAUSTION, are all possibilities in a St. Louis summer.
In HEAT STROKE, the patient’s heatregulating mechanisms are conked out. The skin is hot, dry (no sweating) and usually red. Body temperature is way up there—sometimes as high as 106! The exercise here is to cool the patient off before his/her brains fry! The immediate treatment is to get the person OUT of the sun, into shade (or into air conditioning, if possible) and wash him down with cool water, put him in a cool bath, turn on the cool hose! After the body temperature is down to 102, you will have to watch for chilling—the temperature mechanism is out of whack, remember? And while you’re doing the cooling number, get somebody to call an ambulance.
In HEAT CRAMPS, probably more usual around here, the person is suffering from the lack-of-salt and lots-ofwork syndrome, and has cramps in the legs and often the abdomen. So, the first thing is to get the person quiet—you can’t “walk off” these cramps. Massage the cramping muscles, and give some salt water (a teaspoon of salt to a glass of water) to drink—aim for a half-glassful every fifteen minutes for about an hour. Usually, with rest and salt replacement, there will be no need for the ambulance number.
In HEAT EXHAUSTION, which is common in older people with dicky hearts in hot-and-humid weather, you will find neither the hot, dry skin of heat stroke, nor the cramping of heat cramps. The person has nearly normal temperature, is pale and clammy, sweats a lot, is tired, weak, may have gasping breathing, and may have a headache and nausea, or may faint. This can be a serious condition with older folks, and a call to the doctor is definitely indicated. For immediate care, get the person lying down, with feet higher than head. Open collars, belts, and girdles if you must. Offer salt water to drink—but if the patient vomits, stop! If the doctor advises a trip to the hospital, it would be wise to take along a note of what fluids you have given the patient, since often fluids will be given by vein and this information will help the’ doctor decide what to give and how much.
We hope you don’t encounter any of these dreadfuls. Common sense in hot weather is to remember that the British used to call St. Louis a “subtropical station”, so act like a pukka sahib: work in the cool of the morning, rest in the heat of the afternoon (with lots of lemon squash?), and then work (or party) in the cool of the evening, and remember that your body will have difficulty in transferring from a 70° air-conditioned office to a 99° street!
See you all, healthy and happy, in the Fall issue.
Originally published in The Paper, June 1976.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Archival transcription note: Missing word before “honored thing” marked; historical treatment claims preserved without endorsement.
Original source: SD_Times1976_06.pdf, printed page(s) 5; PDF page(s) 5.
