[ti:Slow and Gentle Are Best in Treating Hypothermia ] [ar:Steve Ember] [al:Health Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English [00:02.95]Health Report. [00:04.42]We talked last week [00:06.08]about ways to avoid [00:07.87]cold-weather injuries. [00:10.26]Today we are going to [00:11.85]talk about emergency [00:13.34]treatment of hypothermia. [00:15.85]Hypothermia can be mild, [00:18.91]moderate or severe. [00:21.67]Mild hypothermia [00:23.22]is something that [00:24.71]most people have experienced [00:26.50]if they live in cold climates. [00:29.30]You feel so cold that [00:31.76]our body starts to shake [00:33.51]-- not very much, [00:35.70]but uncontrollably. [00:38.09]The treatment [00:38.83]for mild hypothermia [00:40.16]starts with getting [00:42.05]out of the cold and, [00:43.84]if necessary, [00:44.98]changing into dry clothes. [00:47.67]Drinking warm, [00:49.52]non-alcoholic liquids [00:51.61]and eating something sugary [00:54.25]can stop the shivering. [00:56.54]Taking a warm bath or sitting [00:59.63]by a fire or doing some exercise [01:02.61]can also help the body warm up. [01:05.65]These are all common sense treatments. [01:09.08]But treatment needs change [01:11.72]when people enter the moderate [01:14.41]or severe stages of hypothermia. [01:17.44]In that situation, [01:18.94]their body temperature drops [01:21.22]below thirty-five degrees Celsius. [01:24.46]They lose the ability [01:26.67]to think clearly. [01:27.96]Their muscles become stiff. [01:30.67]They might bump into things [01:33.38]or fall over objects. [01:35.72]We got advice from a park ranger [01:37.68]experienced in search-and-rescue [01:41.11]for the National Park Service [01:43.25]in California. [01:44.41]Adrienne Freeman explained that [01:47.51]rescuers will first try to [01:50.01]prevent additional heat loss. [01:52.86]They will place extra covering [01:55.46]around the chest, head and neck [01:58.60]of hypothermia victims [02:00.89]to keep them warm. [02:02.33]It is important to work fast [02:05.27]to get people out of the cold. [02:07.61]Hypothermia victims [02:10.04]need medical help [02:11.34]as soon as possible. [02:13.10]But it is equally important [02:15.59]to move them slowly and gently. [02:18.98]Any rough or sudden movement [02:21.72]can force cold blood [02:23.82]from the arms, legs and hands [02:27.20]deep into the warmer [02:29.65]middle of the body. [02:31.34]The sudden flow of cold blood [02:34.78]can create shock, a serious condition. [02:38.47]It can also cause a dangerously [02:42.07]abnormal heartbeat. [02:44.21]The process of "rewarming [02:46.97]" a person needs to be done slowly, [02:50.22]in a hospital setting. [02:52.36]Ranger Freeman said members [02:55.79]of search-and-rescue teams [02:57.98]have a saying that victims [03:00.87]are not dead until they are [03:03.60]warm and dead. [03:06.09]An extremely low body temperature [03:08.78]can cause the heart to beat [03:11.37]so slowly that a pulse may be [03:14.62]difficult to find. [03:16.46]In other words, a person who [03:18.61]is suffering from the effects [03:20.30]of severe cold may seem dead, [03:23.74]but still be alive. [03:26.37]And that's the VOA Special English [03:29.79]Health Report, [03:31.13]written by Caty Weaver. [03:33.12]If you missed last week's advice [03:36.17]about how to avoid cold-weather injuries, [03:39.75]you can find it at 51voa.com. [03:45.35]And you can follow us on Twitter [03:48.13]and YouTube at VOA Learning English. [03:52.53]I'm Steve Ember.