Heat Stroke
Recognize and Prevent Heat Related Illness
child Tuesday morning to an emergency liver transplant Friday
Keeping young athletes safe
CFL: What is heat illness and who should be worried about it? RW: Exertional heat stroke does not discriminate against
by Janet Jefferson
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morning?” “We never want to have another family feeling anguish and pain that we felt from this 100% preventable injury. We’ve been trying to make a difference in keeping his legacy alive by keeping others safe,” says McNair.
anyone. Our focus has been exertional heat stroke in sport related conditions, but it happens in the military and in other areas.
Among US high school athletes, heat illness is the third leading cause of death. Many athletes, coaches, and parents are completely unaware of the dangers of heat illness. As highschool and college athletes train and
compete during the hottest time of the year this invisible threat looms.
The Jordan McNair Foundation’s mission is to promote awareness and education around the prevention of heat related injuries, and to diminish the deaths of heat related tragedies. Chesapeake Family spoke with Marty McNair (MM), founder and father of the Jordan McNair Foundation and Dr. Rod Walters (RW) of the foundation’s medical advisory board. McNair states, “We started the foundation in June of 2018 after our son Jordan, a football player at the University of Maryland, passed away from complications of a heat related injury. We had so many questions when Jordan was injured and then as he fought for his life for two weeks in the hospital. But one of our biggest questions was, what happened and how do we go from a healthy
Jordan’s incident occurred after a break from school during team conditioning. We know the prevalence of exertional heat stroke occurs in individuals that are not at an appropriate level of conditioning, or they’re not acclimatized to the environment. The classic two criteria that show you that you have a heat stroke are a mental status change [that can manifest as confusion or aggression], and an elevated core temperature that is above 104 degrees. It’s so important to recognize those signs because if we can [identify] that person within 30 minutes of the onset of those symptoms, we can revert those findings. But if it goes on then you have morbidity and mortality.
CFL: Do you see this just as frequently in young kids as you do in adults?
RW: Korey Stringer [offensive tackle of the Minnesota Vikings] died 20 years ago and since that time, the NFL has really stepped up their game and they’ve changed their protocols and they’ve not had another heat related illness, but we have four or five of these
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