all right so this morning we are
covering a very important conversation
continuing it about your child safety
playing sports and the brutal August
heat we know it's tough out there so
last night at 5 o'clock if you saw our
story sideline we brought you this young
man's tragic story he is 16 years old
his name is Zach Martin and just
collapsed last year during the first day
of summer conditioning at his high
school down in Fort Meyers his mother
walked up right after it happened and
she says the coach had no idea what to
do the coach just said you know now it's
not a time to panic and you know he just
got a little overheated and we just got
to get some fluids into him and he'll be
okay
Zach was not okay all of his organs
began to quickly shut down so by the
time they got to the hospital his core
body temperature was 107 degrees and he
died 10 days later no one on that field
that day in Fort Meyers had recognized
that Zach was suffering from heat
exhaustion it ultimately led to heat
stroke these are signs that we all need
be very well aware of Bob staff check
director of the Jacksonville Sports
Medicine Clinic joining us live this
morning to talk about this talk about
the warning sign discuss some of the
risk and also commending you for your
efforts to really educate coaches and to
provide resources for students when they
are playing sports I know that's kind of
your life's work for sure yes I'm quite
passionate about so thanks for having me
in this morning you know we talked about
this and we talked about heat exhaustion
talk about heat stroke and I even tend
to think that it doesn't happen that
often
but your point is you got to be aware of
the signs and you can't just say don't
panic it's going to be okay because it
always sometimes it isn't we think kids
are resilient and they certainly are it
doesn't happen as often as is you know
some other things out there but still
often enough that it's considered the
leading cause of sports-related death
for these three months of June July and
August so we really have to be aware of
it we really have to help the kids
understand hydration is important and we
really have to get with our coaches and
make sure that everybody understands
that heat stroke or death from
heatstroke is 100% preventable and
talked about Zach specifically because
if you
saw our story we know that he vomited at
least once during that practice is that
one of the red flags of heat exhaustion
we often combine dehydration with our
warning signs for heatstroke and heat
exhaustion
so certainly vomiting is a sign of
dehydration there are many reasons why
kids do vomit when they're out there
participating
they're probably vomiting because their
body temperature is starting to rise and
the body is starting to react to that so
anytime somebody does vomit that is a
red flag that goes up that that that kid
is now dehydrated and we need to work
aggressively to help them cool down
right and Zacks mom says that the coach
there made some terrible mistakes so as
far as coaches go what should they know
what should they have on hand in case
this happens certainly again going back
to that prevention piece that coaches
need to be aware of who is most
vulnerable to heat stroke and that's our
heavy sweaters our big kids kids that
are on medications perhaps that that do
dehydrate them ADHD medications
dehydrate kids also kids that are
recovering from a recent illness any
anything like that can predispose kids
to dehydration notoriously kids don't
properly hydrate coaches need to set
that example and never deny anyone
access to water and a matter of fact
promote you know hydration that's the
body's number-one way of cooling itself
down is through perspiration in
evaporation so we've got to know those
we've got to know when somebody is
suffering from ill effects of the heat
and react quickly and quickly reaction
so it's speaking specifically about here
in Duval County all the two schools have
certified athletic trainers on staff and
those schools even have something they
have a plan B that they can use and
resources to help them let's talk about
this prop that you've all you brought
it's a wet bulb monitor and it comes up
with kind of a formula and then coaches
can make some decisions based on that
number they get yeah so this is some
modern technology it's a way that we can
measure the heat stress that is
affecting the athletes out there it's a
modern Turner mom
if you will it measures the temperature
it also measures the humidity and it
also with this black globe measures the
radiant effects of the Sun so if you and
I were to walk outside and you were to
say boy it's hot out here I might say
well how hot is it now we have that
objective information that we could
share with the coaches how hot it really
is sometimes on whether we say it feels
like this goes beyond the feels-like
temperature and then the coaches can
then make some decisions how many water
breaks you know what kind of clothing
they should wear how long they could
stay out and when they should go out so
this is very important in every school -
they have access to this make sure
they're using it right thank you for
coming in and again thank you for your
work if you miss chin-hua story last
night you can watch it right now it's on
news for Jax com you'll also find those
warning signs and the symptoms just take
a minute to educate yourself to look for
when your children are out there in the
heat they are not gonna tell you they're
gonna say they're okay but someone has
to know to pull them out and that can be
you that can be a coach so look for the
story it's sidelined in the health
section of news for Jax calm