The last thing I thought I'd be worried about when I moved to Southern Nevada was hypothermia. OK, that's not quite true. There probably were a few things I was less concerned about. A rain of frogs. Becoming an indentured servant to a knock-off Slinky manufacturer. Global zombie war.
The point is, hypothermia was way down the list. It doesn't even drop below freezing too often in Las Vegas.
But it turns out, you can get hypothermia in temperatures far above freezing if there's enough wind. It can be as warm as 60-70 degrees, and with enough bad luck or stupidity, you can find yourself freezing to death. This isn't likely to happen to you in the city, unless, of course, you happen to be one of the unfortunate souls who, after reading this paper, will be using it as a blanket.
Simply getting out of the cold is enough to prevent hypothermia. The difficulties come when coming in from the cold is impossible.
If you're going to spend a significant amount of time outdoors during winter, you need to be prepared. Dress in layers. That doesn't mean one big honking fur coat over an "I lost my *** in Vegas" T-shirt. Layers means underpants (yes, even you, Britney), an undershirt, thermal underwear, thick socks, insulated boots, a long-sleeved shirt (flannel is good), a sweater, a warm jacket and very importantly, gloves and a hat. You lose a lot of heat through exposed skin and a disproportionate amount from your head.
You also need another set of these items, in case the first set gets wet. It happens. Apparently standing up in a canoe is a bad idea.
If you're wet and it's cold, your chances of getting hypothermia are greater. This time of year, spending a few hours bobbing around in Lake Mead could prove deadly, so avoid falling off any boats, particularly if the rest of the people on the boat are too drunk to notice you're missing.
If you're driving through the cold, you should have the aforementioned layers with you, as well as a fully charged cell phone, a shovel, blankets, a flashlight, food and water. In the event of a debilitating automotive breakdown, you want to be able to survive to ask NPR's Click and Clack what that horrible "tachunk grrrrrrrrr" noise was right before the car died for good on that out-of-the-way, snow-covered dirt road.
Most importantly, you should bring a buddy if you're going to be spending any significant time in the cold. That way, you can both check each other for signs of hypothermia. Those signs include shivering, loss of fine motor coordination, rapid shallow breathing and goose bumps. If you chose to ignore those signs, you can expect more shivering, loss of control of major muscles and turning pale or even blue. Beyond this, you can get to amnesia, stumbling, incredibly slow breathing (as little as a breath a minute), difficulty speaking and blue and puffy skin. The next step after that is death, which, generally speaking, you want to avoid.
The good news is that hypothermia is easy to treat, if you can get somewhere warm. If possible, call 911 and follow the instructions.
If that's not possible, here are the basics. Perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation if necessary. Remove the victim's wet clothes. Wrap them in layers of blankets. If necessary, take off your clothes, as well, and press your naked flesh to theirs. (Really. I swear, I read this in a book. It's what you're supposed to do.)
Don't try to warm the victim up with alcohol. It has the opposite effect -- it draws the heat to the surface where it can dissipate into the air. Warm, sugary drinks are fine and helpful. See? Cocoa can be considered medicinal, regardless of what your HMO thinks.
Do not apply direct heat to the victim. That is, don't toss them in a hot bath or put a heating pad on them. Don't rub their extremities to increase their circulation. All those things will do is send the cold blood to all the giblets. Nobody wants cold giblets.
Finally, and I can't stress this enough, there are easier and safer ways to end up naked with someone while wrapped in warm blankets and drinking cocoa than having a pool party in February.
F. Andrew Taylor is a Las Vegas freelance writer. His column appears twice monthly. Contact him at fandrewt@cox.net.
Archived Editions| Advertising | Contact The Staff
