The first case of hypothermia this season was reported on Wednesday by medical rescuers in Łódź. A woman was found on Kilińskiego street, whose body temperature fell down to 25 degrees Celsius. The rescuers warmed her up and took her to a hospital.
According to the spokesperson for the Voivodeship Medical Rescue Station (WRSM) in Łódź, Adam Stępka, with the first frost that occured at night between Tuesday and Wednesday, the first case of hypothermia this season was reported.
Shortly after 6am, the rescuers were dispatched to Kilińskiego street, to a woman in her 50s. When they arrived, they saw a woman sitting on a sidewalk, showing consciousness disorder. Her pulse was barely detectable, and her body temperature - measured at the tympanic membrane - fell down to 25 degrees Celsius.
The medical rescue team immediately began warming up the woman and took her to a hospital.
According to the WRSM in Łódź, with the coming of low temperatures, such cases will be occuring more often. That's why Stępka reminded that shivers are the first symptom of hypothermia - that's how the body tries to protect itself, by trying to produce warmth.
"When the body temperature still goes down, the shivers become ineffective and stop, and the person becomes apathetic. Speech and coordination impairments can occur, which make a person suffering from hypothermia easy to be mistaken with a drunk person," the rescuer explained.
"With further loss of temperature, pulse becomes barely detectable, and respiration becomes weak and short. If not helped as soon as possible, such situation may lead to circulatory arrest," Stępka stressed.
According to the data provided by the spokesperson for the Voivodeship Police Commander in Łódź, Deputy Inspector Joanna Kącka, 83 people died of hypothermia in Poland in 2017/2018 cold weather season, and 73 the following year.
Kącka explained that one of the most harmful and most widely spread myths is a belief in warming quality of alcohol, supposedly that could protect a person from frost. In fact, the sensation of heat quickly expires, and inebiated people who go outside can trip and hurt themselves, or may not have enough energy to stand up.
That's why city services appeal not be indifferent to people lying in the streets, including those under influence of alcohol. Such cases can be reported by calling emergency numbers 997 and 112.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: tvn24