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Whether you want to admit it or not, winter will be upon us again before you know it. You can get hypothermia in as little as 20 minutes if you are not dressed properly in severely cold weather. With a little preparation, a tragedy can be avoided. On The Road To be prepared on the road in the winter time, keep extra clothing, blankets, food, water, and hand warmers in your car. If you do get stranded in your car, stay in your car. Run the motor for short periods of time to operate the heater. As soon as the car warms up, turn the ignition off. Have your window cracked a bit to let in fresh air and to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning. Tie a bright piece of cloth to the antenna to alert rescuers. If you decide you must leave your car, leave a note telling who you are and what direction you headed One of the most important things to help yourself stay warm is to wear warm clothing including a hat, scarf, gloves, and socks. Over 50 percent of your body heat is lost through your head and neck. Your hands and feet also lose a lot of body heat. If you are in a severely cold emergency situation, wear 3 or 4 layers of dry clothing, towels, or 12 to 15 layers of newspaper wrapped around your arms and legs. Tie the towels and newspaper on with string. This will trap the warm air next to your body. If your clothing gets damp, whether from water or perspiration, change them to dry clothing if possible. In The Home What if the power fails or your furnace heater goes out during a bout of cold weather? You can still stay warm in your house if you build an indoor shelter. Put several desks and small tables together as a frame. All four sides, the roof, and floor should be covered with some insulating materials such as mattresses, blankets, pillows, sheets, clothing, anything you can get your hands on to make the walls 15 inches or thicker. Make the shelter compact with only a small space for each person. Lay close to or hug another person. Your body heat will keep the shelter warm. Another effective way to get warm is to drink plenty of hot liquids. You can also place very warm or slightly hot articles over your kidneys at the small of your back. This works well because your blood circulates through your kidneys about every two minutes. WARNING: Don’t allow a person who is suffering from severe hypothermia to drink hot liquids, or place hot items over their kidneys. You could cause severe heart problems or other complications. Outdoors If you are outdoors in the cold, you can still keep yourself warm. First, if possible, you should build yourself a fire. If you don’t happen to have matches you can still start a fire. Your car’s cigarette lighter, battery, and gas can all be very helpful for starting fires. As a last resort to lighting a fire, you can disconnect the positive battery cable and touch it on the metal body of your car (as far away from your battery as possible), it will create sparks. WARNING: Use extreme caution with this method, the gas fumes from the battery can catch on fire and cause the battery to explode. A safer way to make a fire is with a piece of hard steel and a rock. Strike the two together and create sparks to light some tinder. This method takes a lot of patience. If you are stranded without shelter, you can build an adequate shelter using a few simple items. If you have a tarp and can find some long poles and a standing tree, you can build a teepee. In the winter time, you can dig a hole in a snow bank and lay 5-15 inches of insulating materials beneath you. Make sure you pick a good snow bank in a stable area out of avalanche danger. Dig a small opening and enlarge it from the inside. Make it big enough for a comfortable fit, yet small enough to allow your body heat to warm up the interior. To circulate enough air, dig downward first, then up and inward. The low spot will act as a trap for the cold air coming from the open doorway. If you find a tall pine tree, you can dig a shelter under its branches. Line the dugout with tarp if possible. If you can’t build a fire or a shelter, stay active and keep moving. Don’ts There are some things NOT to do when you are trying to keep warm. If you are outside in cold weather, DON’T move around so much that you start to perspire. The sweat is meant to cool your body off and will freeze later and make you even more cold. Don’t eat snow or drink very cold water. Always melt the snow first and warm up any water you drink. Don’t let your hands and feet get cold because it is very difficult to get them warm again. The blood vessels in your hands and feet constrict when they are cold. Don’t sit, sleep, or lay on anything that is cold such as the ground, rocks or metal. This will chill your body quickly. Don’t smoke because it constricts your blood vessels and you continually inhale cold air. Don’t drink alcohol. Alcohol is a depressant which slows the body functions and heart rate down. Alcohol expands your blood vessels near the surface of your skin, reducing feeling and sensation, and giving you the illusion of warmth. Your head may think you are warmer, but your body is actually colder. You are at a higher risk of frostbite and hypothermia. Signs and Symptoms of Frostbite: Areas of skin may look: White Treatment for Frostbite: Get the victim to the hospital. If you can’t get professional help, you can heat some water to 104 deg to 109 deg, but no hotter than 109 deg, and place the frostbitten area into the water until it looks red or flushed and is no longer cold to the touch. Do not leave affected area in the water longer than this. If you don’t have water, place frostbitten fingers snugly under your armpits or on your stomach. Put gauze between any fingers or toes affected, and don’t break any blisters because they can get infected. Also, do not rub, massage, or apply dry heat to the area, these actions may cause additional cell damage. Signs and Symptoms of Hypothermia: Reduced and/or shallow breathing Treatment for Hypothermia: Get the victim to the hospital! Hypothermia is a very serious condition in which the body can no longer heat itself. This condition occurs when the body temperature reaches 80 deg-82 deg F or below. If professional help is unavailable, take any wet clothing off and dry the victim completely and dress in dry clothing. Wrap the victim in blankets or sleeping bags and lay down right next to the victim. Hold them close to transfer some of your body heat to help warm them. DO NOT place the victim in hot or warm water as this can damage the heart or cause the heart to stop. DO NOT give the victim warm or hot liquids for the same reason. Hopefully none of your cold experiences will ever get this bad, but it is always better to be prepared, better to be safe than sorry. With the right precautions, you should never have to worry about keeping warm. Dress warmly!
Sources: “The Emergency-Disaster Guidebook” by Doug King, 1994, Thomas Publishing, Midvale “Sense of Survival” by J. Allan South,1990, Timpanogos Publishers, Orem. |
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