MedStar has reported an increase in heat-related calls this year in North Texas.
In 2014, the ambulance service provider reported 90 heat-related calls in July across North Texas. This year, that number climbed to 113.
August of 2014 brought 95 heat-related calls, while MedStar reports 30 through the first eight days of August this year -- just shy of last year's pace.
News 8's Lauren Zakalik rode along with MedStar last week.
"First thing you do is get them out of the heat," says Marshall Sharp, a MedStar supervisor who's also been a paramedic for nearly 25 years. "The worst case scenario would be if they had heat exhaustion which progressed to heat stroke," Sharp says.
The first heat-related call of the day? A 26-year-old man. The Texas native said he had never had an adverse reaction to the heat before, but his temperature was 102 by the time he got to work.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area didn't officially see its first 100-degree day of the year until July 26 this year (compared to July 13 last year), but MedStar told News 8 that, between July 11 and Aug. 6, there had only been one day without a heat-related call in the area. There were eight such days, including five in a row, during the same span in 2014.
- LINK: Dallas OEM Cooling Stations
- LINK: Salvation Army Cooling Stations in North Texas
- LINK: Tarrant County cooling stations
MedStar released day-by-day statistics on heat-related calls through Aug. 8. That chart shows Aug. 4-11 as being the worst eight-day stretch for heat-related calls last year. Those numbers can be seen below or here.
"We have seen a 24 percent increase in our heat-related emergencies this summer compared to the same time last year," she said last week.
But MedStar is prepared to answer those calls and bring relief to those who can no longer find it themselves.
