Feel sick from the heat? You’re not alone. Doctors at AdventHealth in the Orlando region say they’re treating a record number of patients for heat-related illnesses.
Doctors at AdventHealth Centra Care report treating an average of 11 patients a week in July for heat-related illnesses. That’s more than five times as many patients who sought treatment for heat exposure or heat exhaustion at the same time last year., the health system says.
Dr. Tim Hendrix, medical director of AdventHealth Centra Care, says historic high temperatures are to blame.
“Well, climate change as we can see is affecting our weather and it’s affecting our health. So as we move forward and we anticipate we’re going to have longer, hotter summers, we’re going to have a higher risk of people coming down with these heat-related illnesses,” Hendrix says.
Hendrix says he expects people will begin to adapt to the warmer weather by staying indoors, away from the heat.
“So, we need to learn how to adapt and modify our activities throughout the summers and not just expect, 'Well, it’s going to cool off' or 'I used to be able to do these things during the summertime,' but we’re gonna have to be aware that we’re, you know, we’re gonna have to change our activities because of the heat and we may not be able to do what we used to be able to do,” Hendrix says.
The average high temperature in Orlando in July was 94.5 degrees, which is 2.5 degrees higher than July temperatures over the past three decades.
