ORLANDO, Fla. – With most of Central Florida under an excessive heat warning, a local doctor is sharing tips for kids to stay safe as they head back to school.
The medical director for Seminole County, Dr. Todd Husty, said no one is immune to heat and said people should be out in the heat as little as possible.
“Even if you think you can do the heat really well, you may not be able to do the heat really well,” Husty said.
News 6 caught up with Husty on Wednesday. He told us some tips not only about what you can do to prevent heat-related illness, but what you should do should you find yourself or someone else suffering from it.
“You have to go slow,” Husty said. “You have to keep cool. You have to keep hydrated. And you have to look for signs of something might be going wrong.”
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Husty shared some of the signs to look out for, including headaches, nausea, dizziness, and fatigue. He said the heat may impact small children differently than adults or teenagers.
“They don’t sweat as much,” Husty said. “I mean, they sweat, but it’s (that) they heat up a little bit faster, and they don’t cool off quite as well. They don’t have as much fluid in them as we do.”
Husty said if someone is experiencing heat-related illness symptoms to get them out of the sun immediately and begin cooling them off. He said heat exhaustion can turn into heat stroke within minutes.
“So, you need to recognize these people in heat exhaustion are usually really goofy, kind of unconscious or at least goofy conscious,” Husty said.
And when it comes to the first day of school and picking out that first day outfit, he said to leave the layers at home.
“Dress comfortably and, you know, not multiple layers, that kind of thing, because you don’t want to insulate all the heat in,” Husty said.
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