1003 B
Recognizing and Treating Hypothermia
Hypothermia begins when core body temperature drops below 95°F (35°C).
Stages
Mild — shivering, clumsiness, slurred speech, and poor judgement. The person often insists they are fine. Confusion is the tell.
Moderate — shivering stops. This is not improvement; it means the body has run out of the energy to shiver. Consciousness clouds.
Severe — shivering absent, muscles rigid, pulse and breathing very slow and hard to detect.
Treatment
Get the person out of the wind and out of wet clothing. Insulate them from the ground, which steals heat faster than the air does. Apply heat to the torso — armpits, chest, groin — not to the extremities.
Handle a severely hypothermic person gently. Rough movement can trigger a fatal cardiac arrhythmia in a cold heart.
Give warm sweet drinks only if they are fully alert and can swallow. No alcohol: it feels warming because it dilates surface vessels, which dumps core heat.