Doctor offers reminders about children and heat with July weather looming

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Doctors are urging parents to monitor children for heat-related illness signs this summer.
University of Utah Health's Dr. Jeff Robison advises hydration, shade, and breaks, especially for children.
Robison also recommends caution around playground equipment in direct sunlight and leaving children in hot cars.

SALT LAKE CITY — As temperatures approached 100 Tuesday and with triple-digit temperatures more likely in the weeks to come, doctors were urging parents to watch closely for the warning signs of heat-related illnesses and injuries in their children when they play outside.

Dr. Jeff Robison, of University of Utah Health and Primary Children's Hospital, said it's great for children to play outside — even when it's warm — but kids are more likely to feel the effects of hotter temperatures faster than adults.

"Children — particularly those who are younger — have not as great thermoregulation," Robison said during an interview with KSL-TV. "They are unable to communicate as well as an adult might when they are feeling the effects of heat."

He said common warning signs for parents to watch for include headache, nausea and vomiting.

Robison advised parents to have their children drink water before going outside and to stay hydrated outside while occasionally seeking shade and breaks from play.

"It's really important for adults to be kind of on top of what kids are doing and making sure that they're drinking and taking breaks and cooling off," he said.

While exertion in the heat can be a concern, the doctor said child emergency room visits are more common after kids are left in hot cars.

"I mean, there are different levels of severity, but we get a number of severe, heat-related injuries every year, and they are usually related to being left in a car," Robison said. "It gets hot really quickly, and the younger your kids are, the more likely they are to experience devastating impacts of that heat. It's basically like being in an oven."

Robison also recommended caution around playground equipment that sits in direct sunlight, noting surface temperatures can be extremely hot.

At Wardle Fields Regional Park, 14148 S. 2700 West, the large splash pad was crowded Tuesday afternoon as parents and kids flocked to the area to stay cool.

Andrea Boyens said she was wary of the potential effects of summer heat and intentionally chose the splash pad area for her children to play outside.

"We always try to bring an umbrella, and we fill up a lot of water bottles, and we try to just have some shade and make sure we're putting on sunscreen and staying hydrated, and I always check how long we've been outside," Boyens said. "If we go to a normal park, it's really hot, so we have to have some kind of water."

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Andrew Adams

Andrew Adams reports for KSL 5 News at 4 p.m., 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Andrew’s news credits include breaking and covering national stories. He has followed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to primary states Iowa in 2008 and New Hampshire in 2012 and covered the Romney campaign on election night in Boston in 2012. He has covered the Susan Cox Powell case extensively since her disappearance in 2009. Andrew’s February 2011 investigative work on four Walmart workers fired after stopping an armed shoplifter was featured on CNN and other national outlets. He covered the Crandall Canyon Mine Disaster, the legal proceedings of polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, the federal conviction and sentencing of Elizabeth Smart kidnapper Brian David Mitchell, and the movements of BYU and the University of Utah through conference realignment. Andrew is also proud of a cameo in 2011 on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report. Andrew’s awards include regional Edward R. Murrow wins in radio for writing, investigative reporting and sports reporting. He was also part of the “Utah’s Morning News” radio broadcast that won a 2011 national Murrow for best newscast.