HYPOTHERMIA TREATMENT: What to do for hypothermia ... 
on Passport to Texas.

This is Passport to Texas

When the wind sweeps across the wide open plains this 
winter, backcountry enthusiasts will feel it. Cold 
temperatures and strong winds increase the risk of 
hypothermia, a potentially serious condition where the 
body's core temperature drops below normal. Should that 
happen, you need to act fast.

Dorian Drigalla (Dre-gal-a) is an assistant professor of 
emergency medicine at Scott and White Memorial Hospital. 

51 -- The first thing to try to do is to get the patient to the 
warmest possible environment, whether that be getting them out 
of the wind or out of the water. So the first two things to be 
concerned about on a hike or in the wilderness are basically to 
remove everything possible wet, get the patient dry and try and 
get them into a warmer environment. Even if that just means out 
of the wind behind shelter even of a hillside. Then you want to try 
additional measures, whether that's using insulating materials 
like a sleeping bag or dry clothing to warm the patient and also 
ingestion of warm liquids can help. If the person is cold and 
they're already in water, the water between them and their 
clothing is actually insulating. The heat is conducted out of the 
body and into the water but it's maintained between them and 
their clothing. And it's only if those clothes can come off and all 
the water can be removed that that's actually helpful. 

That's our show ... we receive support from the SFWR 
program.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife ... I'm Cecilia Nasti. 










Total sound bite time:		 0:51.0
Maximum Script time:		 0:34.0 Suggested show time: 85.0 = 
1:25