Winter is coming up faster than anyone can forsee. With it brings many enjoyable winter activities such as skiing, snowmobiling, and even better than that, ice fishing. Some of these activities involve frozen lakes and ponds. These frozen lakes and ponds can be extermely dangerous when the ice is thin. So always check the ice before heading out and you will hopefully never need to save someone from hypothermia.
With luck and preparation you will never have to save someone who fell through thin ice but if it happens you should be prepared. It happens to thousands of people every year. Hypothermia is caused by the rapid, or slow decrease of the bodys' core temperature below 35.0 °C or 95 ºF. You might not have a thermometer handy in an emergency situation but you can always see signs of it without one. There are three stages of hypothermia.
Stage 1 - Mild to strong shivering occours. The victim is unable to preform complex tasks with their hands. Blood vessels in the arms and legs contract. Breathing becomes quicker and shallower. The victim may feel sick to their stomach. They might often feel very tired and experience a warm sensation. You can ask the victim to touch their index finger to their thumb, if they can not then they are heading into stage two of hypothermia.
Stage 2 - Shivering is much stronger and almost violent. Inability to properly use muscles becomes obvious. They have trouble moving and are mildly confused. The blood vessels in their extermities contract, causing their fingers, lips, ears, and toes to turn blue.
Stage 3 - This is the most serious stage and if you see any of these symptoms then you better get the victim to a hospital quickly. The shivering usually stops and they have difficulty speaking and thinking. The victim will often seem to have signs of amnesia. They can not or have extreme difficuly using they hands and muscles. Walking is almost impossible as the bodys blood vessels have contracted completly to keep the vital organs alive. Any exposed skin will turn blue and puffy. Their pulse and breathing rates are slower. Soon their major organs will start to fail and once this happens the body can no longer send blood to the brain. Once this happens, the victim will have about five minutes untill death. Get to a hospital!
So now that you know the signs of hypothermia you should know how to treat it. Simply put you have to get them out of a cold enviroment and into a warm one. This can be done by removing their wet clothes and replacing they with dry ones. Use yours if you have to. If you have to use your own clothes make sure you don't get hypothermia or you are just going to make a bad situation even worse. In mild cases of hypothermia you can just have the victim do some exercise to keep warm blood flowing to all parts of their body. Be sure to find shelter from the wind. Keep the victim insulated from the ground by making a bedding of leaves, twigs, branches or whatever else you can find. Start a fire if you can. Let the victim drink warm non-alcoholic drinks and high sugar filled foods. Apply heat to the neck, armpits and groin area.
More severe cases of hypothermia require a more severe treatment. Try to maintain the body temperature of the victim using the previous methods described. Be sure to be gentle with the victim because rough or sudden movements like walking could pull their blood from their outher extremitis into their core, causing shock. The best hypothermia treatment in severe cases is to get two warm people under a pile of blankets with the victim and create skin on skin contact to the torso. The victim might want to go to sleep but don't let them. Don't try to increase the victims body temperature but only try to prevent it from decreasing. Make sure you have already called an emergency response team. If you haven't, then do it now. If the hypothermia victim has gone uncounsious, check for a pulse. If there is a pulse then do not administer CPR, this can cause the heart to stop. If there is no pulse begin CPR immediatley and hope the the emergency response team shows up soon.
People have recovered from hypothermia in morgues after being declared dead by professionals. So be sure to keep them warm as long as you can. So never give up hope and with these tips you can save someone from hypothermia. Also remember that prevention is alwasy the best solution so be sure to check for thin ice.
Justin lock has never had to save someone from hypothermia but is medically trained to if it ever does happen. He admires ice fishing, writing and webdesign so be sure to check out his website at http://www.lakeicefishing.com
