![]() The firefighters believe the man was among those in the city experiencing homelessness - the most vulnerable population in the heat wave. Taking IVs in coolers filled with ice, they’ve been responding to an uptick of the same heat-related calls that bring more patients to the hospital, including a man who had third-degree burns on his body from lying on the asphalt. No strangers to heat, Arizona firefighters take ice baths after particularly grueling calls. ![]() The Phoenix Fire Department has been feeling the strain, too. ![]() The one who was rushed in with an internal temp of 110 last week could not. LoVecchio said that some patients have come in with internal temperatures of 107 and that they can sometimes be saved. Ice pools are prepared on stretchers by medical staff members for the inevitable next patient who needs an immediate cooling-down. “We’re overcrowded with patients,” LoVecchio said, adding that 20% of patients are there for something heat-related. Walking into the Valleywise ER is to see hallways lined with patients hooked up to IV lines, drowsy from heat exhaustion. "I’ve been working here since 1996, this same hospital, and this is one of the worst summers because we’ve had so many days in a row … this super warm weather.”Īs of today, the city has had 17 consecutive days above 110 degrees. “This is the worst summer in recent memory," he said. Frank LoVecchio, an emergency medicine physician with Valleywise Health, said the heat is straining local hospitals. ![]() As Phoenix broke yet another daily record with 118 degrees yesterday, Dr. ![]()
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