A4 The BulleTin • Friday, augusT 13, 2021
Pacific Northwest | extreme heat
TODAY
A chilling cure: Facing killer heat,
ERs use body bags to save lives
BY JONEL ALECCIA
Kaiser Health News
As a deadly heat wave
scorched the Pacific North-
west in June, overwhelming
hospital emergency rooms in
a region unaccustomed to tri-
ple-digit temperatures, doc-
tors resorted to a grim but
practical tool to save lives: hu-
man body bags filled with ice
and water.
Officials at hospitals in Se-
attle and Renton, Washington,
said that as more people ar-
rived experiencing potentially
fatal heatstroke, and with
cooling catheters and even
ice packs in short supply, they
used the novel treatment to
quickly immerse and cool sev-
eral elderly people.
Zipping heatstroke pa-
tients into ice-filled body bags
worked so well it could be-
come a go-to treatment in a
world increasingly altered by
climate change, said Dr. Alex
St. John, an emergency phy-
sician at UW Medicine’s Har-
borview Medical Center.
“I have a feeling that we’re
looking at many more days
of extreme heat in the future,
and this is likely to become
more common,” he said.
Despite the macabre con-
notation of body bags, using
them is a cheap, convenient
and scalable way to treat pa-
tients in mass casualty emer-
gencies caused by excessive
heat, said Dr. Grant Lipman, a
Stanford University professor
of emergency medicine. He
co-authored a pioneering case
study documenting the use for
heatstroke of what doctors call
“human remains pouches.”
“When people are this sick,
you’ve got to cool them down
fast,” Lipman said.
Heatstroke is the most dan-
gerous type of heat illness, a
medical emergency that leads
to death in up to a third of
Volunteers focus on getting water to vulnerable
PORTLAND — Volunteers handed out water to homeless people in
Portland on Thursday as the Pacific Northwest entered the peak days
of a scorching heat wave in the usually temperate region.
Authorities trying to provide relief to vulnerable people are mind-
ful of a record-shattering heat wave in late June that killed hundreds
in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia.
In Portland, temperatures on Wednesday reached 102 degrees
Fahrenheit — tying a record set for the day in 1977. It’s supposed to
get even hotter Thursday and Friday. In Seattle, highs were predicted
to reach the upper 90s in a region where many don’t have air condi-
tioning.
In Portland, a homeless advocacy group was using three large vans
to transport water and other cooling items to homeless encamp-
ments on the outskirts of the city. The effort was important, advocates
said, because people experiencing homelessness are often reluctant
to go to cooling centers.
Meanwhile, 17-year-old Luna Abadia was out training for cross
country with her team from Lincoln High School in downtown Port-
land. The group stopped to refresh themselves in a large public foun-
tain as temperatures hit the 80s by 9 a.m.
The runners normally train at 4 p.m. but in recent weeks, have had
to shift it to 8 a.m. because of the heat, she said.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has declared a state of emergency and
activated an emergency operations center, citing the potential for
disruptions to the power grid and transportation. Besides opening
cooling centers, city and county governments are extending public li-
brary hours and waiving bus fare for those headed to cooling centers.
A 24-hour statewide help line will direct callers to the nearest cooling
shelter and offer safety tips.
—Associated Press
hospitalized patients. It oc-
curs when the body overheats,
either because of exertion in
high temperatures or because
of prolonged exposure to heat
with no relief. The core body
temperature rises to 104 de-
grees Fahrenheit or higher,
which can damage the brain
and other organs.
Heatstroke can be particu-
larly dangerous for children
and older people, whose bod-
ies don’t regulate temperature
well. Also, elderly people may
take medications that impair
their ability to tolerate high
temperatures.
Patients typically would
be treated with strategically
placed ice packs or misted
with water and placed in front
of huge fans. Some emergency
room staffers immerse pa-
tients in large tubs of water or
insert cooling catheters into
the body’s large veins.
During emergencies, how-
ever, equipment, ice and time
may all be in short supply.
Overall, nearly 2,800 emer-
gency department visits for
heat illness were logged from
June 25 through June 30 in
a region that includes Ore-
gon, Washington, Idaho and
Alaska, including more than
1,000 on June 28 alone, ac-
cording to the Centers for
Disease Control and Preven-
MAKE THE
GRADE
Local school
information
parents need
to know!
The Central Oregon
School Directory
PUBLISHING SUNDAY, AUGUST 22, IN THE BULLETIN
• Handy, easy to use school reference guide and the perfect
place to share your business information with area parents.
• One stop reference to all of the schools in Central Oregon.
• Available online in the e-edition.
PUBLISH
DATE:
,
Sunday
22
August
:
DEADLINE
G
IN
IS
T
R
ADVE
nesday,
Wed
18
August
Call for more information
541-383-0384
www.bendbulletin.com
tion. At least 112 deaths in
Washington and 115 deaths
in Oregon have been linked
to the heat wave, state officials
said.
The treatment involves fill-
ing a body bag with a slurry
of water and ice, putting the
patient inside and zipping
the bag just up to the armpits
to allow access for medical
equipment and close moni-
toring. The self-contained bag
keeps the ice and water close
to the patient’s skin.
As the effects of climate
change lead to hotter tempera-
tures in more places — in-
cluding historically temperate
zones where air conditioning
isn’t in wide use — using body
bags to rapidly treat heat ill-
ness is a logical solution, said
Lipman, who directs Stan-
ford’s Wilderness Medicine
Fellowship and runs Global
Outdoor Emergency Support,
or GOES, which provides
medical guidance for outdoor
travelers.
“Every hospital has body
bags. Every hospital has ice
machines,” Lipman said.
Immersing patients in cold
water has long been the gold
standard for treating athletes
with heatstroke caused by ex-
ertion, Lipman said. It’s the
most efficient method, be-
cause water conducts heat
away from the body about 25
times faster than air.
For now, the body bag treat-
ment has been studied mostly
in younger, healthier peo-
ple, and some doctors worry
about the effects of cold water
on older people and whether
the technique might induce
shivering that actually raises
body temperature. Lipman
agrees further study is needed
but said his experience has
found “the cooling benefits
will outweigh any harm of
shivering.”
Today is Friday, Aug. 13, the 225th
day of 2021. There are 140 days left
in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On August 13, 1910, Florence
Nightingale, the founder of mod-
ern nursing, died in London at
age 90.
In 1521, Spanish conqueror Her-
nando Cortez captured Tenochtit-
lan, present-day Mexico City, from
the Aztecs.
In 1704, the Battle of Blenheim
was fought during the War of the
Spanish Succession, resulting in a
victory for English-led forces over
French and Bavarian soldiers.
In 1846, the American flag was
raised in Los Angeles for the first
time.
In 1860, legendary sharpshooter
Annie Oakley was born in Darke
County, Ohio.
In 1889, William Gray of Hartford,
Conn., received a patent for a
coin-operated telephone.
In 1932, Adolf Hitler rejected the
post of vice chancellor of Germany,
saying he was prepared to hold
out “for all or nothing.”
In 1942, Walt Disney’s animated
feature “Bambi” had its U.S. pre-
miere at Radio City Music Hall in
New York, five days after its world
premiere in London.
In 1961, East Germany sealed off
the border between Berlin’s east-
ern and western sectors before
building a wall that would divide
the city for the next 28 years.
In 1967, the crime caper biopic
“Bonnie and Clyde,” starring War-
ren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, had
its U.S. premiere; the movie, direct-
ed by Arthur Penn, was considered
shocking as well as innovative for
its graphic portrayal of violence.
In 2003, Iraq began pumping
crude oil from its northern oil fields
for the first time since the start of
the war. Libya agreed to set up a
$2.7 billion fund for families of the
270 people killed in the 1988 Pan
Am bombing.
In 2004, TV chef Julia Child died
in Montecito, California, two days
short of her 92nd birthday.
In 2017, in a statement, the White
House said President Donald
Trump “very strongly” condemned
individual hate groups; the
statement followed criticism of
Trump for blaming the previous
day’s deadly violence at a white
supremacist rally in Charlottesville,
Virginia, on “many sides.”
Ten years ago: Seven people
were killed when a stage collapsed
at the Indiana State Fair during
a powerful storm just before a
concert was to begin. In the Re-
publican presidential race, Rep.
Michele Bachmann won the Iowa
straw poll; Texas Gov. Rick Perry
officially declared his candidacy. In
eastern Pakistan, al-Qaida gunmen
kidnapped an American develop-
ment expert, Warren Weinstein.
(Weinstein was killed in a U.S.
drone strike in Jan. 2015.)
Five years ago: Violence erupt-
ed in Milwaukee following the
fatal shooting of Sylville Smith,
a 23-year-old Black man, by a
Black police officer, Dominique
Heaggan-Brown, who was later
acquitted of first-degree reckless
homicide. Michael Phelps closed
out the Rio Olympics with another
gold medal, the 23rd of his career.
Kenny Baker, who played R2-D2
in the “Star Wars” movies, died in
Preston, England, at age 81.
One year ago: Georgia Gov. Brian
Kemp said he was dropping a
lawsuit against the city of Atlanta
over the city’s requirement to
wear masks in public and other
coronavirus restrictions; Kemp had
sought to block local governments
from requiring that masks be
worn. In an interview on Fox Busi-
ness Network, President Donald
Trump acknowledged that he was
starving the U.S. Postal Service of
money in order to make it harder
to process an expected surge of
mail-in ballots.
Today’s Birthdays: Former U.S.
Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders
is 88. Actor Kevin Tighe is 77. U.S.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is
75. Opera singer Kathleen Battle is
73. High wire aerialist Philippe Petit
is 72. Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby
Clarke is 72. Golf Hall of Famer
Betsy King is 66. Movie director
Paul Greengrass is 66. Actor Danny
Bonaduce is 62. TV weatherman
Sam Champion is 60. Actor Dawnn
Lewis is 60. Actor John Slattery is
59. Actor Debi Mazar is 57. Actor
Quinn Cummings is 54. Actor Seana
Kofoed is 51. Country singer Andy
Griggs is 48. Actor Gregory Fitoussi
is 45. Country musician Mike Mel-
ancon (Emerson Drive) is 43. Actor
Kathryn Fiore is 42. Former White
House press secretary Sarah Huck-
abee Sanders is 39. Actor Sebastian
Stan is 39. Actor Eme Ikwuakor is 37.
Pop-rock singer James Morrison is
37. Actor Lennon Stella is 22.
— Associated Press