ustxtxb_obs_1980_07_25_50_00023-00000_000.pdf

47!’ 4.44 Austin’s only open-air dance floor is now open every day and night for live music and homestyle meals. Come enjoy our laid-back tropical garden atmosphere. Fine wines & beers 405 West Second Street 477-0461 .1 OPEN 7:30 AM ’til 4 PM 11 S \( hOiritt’ Downtown’s Newest BREAKFAST BREAK Across from the Alamo National Bank 135 East Commerce, San Antonio 225-0231 -1 and Associates 502 W. 15th Street Austin, Texas 78701 REALTOR Representing all types of properties in Austin and Central Texas Interesting & unusual property a specialty. 477-3651 THE BRAZOS BOOK SHOP 803 Red River Austin, Texas Literature and the Fine Arts new and used books Monday through Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Featuring Local Presses and Authors: Including Thorp Springs Press, Prickly Pear Press, Texas Circuit, Encino Press, Shoal Creek Publishers, Jenkins Publishing, Place of Herons Press, and many others Good books in every field JENKINS PUBLISHING CO. The Pemberton Press \( John H. Jenkins, Publisher Box 2085 6 Austin 78768 os .20 -%10.c. lilDerty possible. There is a direct correlation between the length of time the body temperature stays up and the severity of brain damage. At Parkland Hospital, the mean hospital stay was five to six days in the 1978 epidemic. Charles Crumpler, M.D., assistant professor of internal surgery at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, says patients are usually not discharged until the heat wave is over because once a person has had a heat illness, he tends to lose the functioning of the thermo-regulatory mechanism and if he goes back into the same environment he’ll be struck again. “We encourage the house staff not to discharge them until the heat wave is over,” says Crumpler. But Parkland’s facilities are limited. And the heat wave may not be over for quite awhile. In 1978, during the threemonth period, 17 people died of heat stroke. Fourteen of the deaths occurred during July. It’s already July. At Parkland, 50 people have been admitted because of heat disorders. Thirty of those people have had frank heat stroke. The number of deaths in Dallas is listed as 15, but the Medical Examiner’s Office says autopsies are not being done on all heat victims, partly because of a shortage of staff. Parkland Hospital has used 2,200 lbs. of ice in the emergency room since June 19. EMS personnel have stopped at convenience stores to pick up ice when they run out. Dallas, a city of extremes, which only a few months ago was suffering from ice storms, is encouraging a helpyour-neighbor approach to rescue in addition to the city’s efforts to provide air conditioned transportation to and from a few centers around town. The first thing to do if you find a person in obvious heat distress with dry hot skin is start cooling him off. The sooner the better. Check on each other. And don’t make it too difficult for friends to check on you. I went jogging the other morning, early enough to beat the heat, I thought. I had to drop behind my running mate and ended up walking back. Somehow my friend and I missed each other in the locker room and she became worried and went with the director of the YMCA down to the trail to look for me. Her intuition was right. I had overheated and knew I was in trouble when the shivers began. But while the two of them were back in the sun searching for me, I was stretched out on a cot in air conditioned comfort, recovering quite nicely, and wondering why I hadn’t heeded Dr. Knochel’s advice about the heat. THE TEXAS OBSERVER 23