Some Lowcountry hospitals seeing increase in heat-related illnesses

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD)- As we’re in the thick of summer, the sweltering heat is impacting hospitals across the Lowcountry.

Emergency Room manager at Trident Hospital, Brittany Globeck, says they’ve had countless people come in for heat-related illnesses.

“They usually come in, excessive sweating, dizziness, weakness,” Globeck said.

Globeck says that’s typical for the Charleston summertime, but they’ve had an increase, “This year the number has been a little bit higher.”

Down the road at Robert St Francis, ER doctors like Dr. Tom Dittrich say as of last month, over 800 people this year have come to their facility to get treated for heat exhaustion.

A lot of them are people who work outside.

“In fact earlier today I did have a patient here brought in, working out on scaffolding and got overheated,” Dittrich said.

In Colleton County, the heat started to threaten patients inside the Colleton Medical Center, after both of their air conditioning units went out.

Doctors and hospital managers decided to move all 32 inpatients to different hospitals as they work to get it back up and running.

“The good news is our temporary chillers are on sight. We are cooling the building. We have a lot of quality control checks we have to do here at the facility,” CEO of the medical center, Jimmy Hiott said.

As the heat isn’t going anywhere anytime soon…There are symptoms to pay attention to for heat exhaustion.

“The first symptoms would usually be lightheadedness, maybe feeling like they’re going to pass out at some point. Cramping, cramping in the arms, the legs, and that gets to be quite painful,” Dittrich said.

However, doctors say it’s something you can avoid.

The key is drinking tons of water.

“Hydration is the most important thing. We actually lose fluids through our skin in this kind of heat and believe it or not we actually lose it through our breathing. So you’re losing more fluid than you actually think in this kind of heat,” Dittrich said.