Posted on 07/12/2018 6:42:31 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
Peggy Frank had worked as a carrier for the U.S Post Office for 28 years. At age 63, shed started planning for her upcoming retirement, her family told KTLA.
Now she cant, Lynn Calkins, her sister, told the station. Frank died Friday after being found unresponsive in her mail truck on her route during a blistering Southern California heat wave.
It was her first day back at work after months recuperating from a broken ankle, KTLA reported.
Temperatures reached a high of 117 degrees that day in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles where Frank died delivering mail in her post office truck, which did not have air conditioning, reported KCBS.
The National Weather Service had issued an excessive heat warning Friday for the region.
Ed Winter of the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroners office told The Los Angeles Daily News that paramedics tried to revive Frank after she was found, but she was pronounced dead at 3:35 p.m.
Winter declined to say whether Frank had died of a heat-related illness, telling the publication Monday that an autopsy has been completed but further tests are needed.
Franks family, which told KTTV that Frank had suffered heat stroke on the job last summer, believes the extreme heat Friday contributed to her death.
"She was a good person," Calkins, her sister, told the station. She wanted to do it right and she wanted to do a good job.
Calkins told KTTV the post office should do more to protect carriers from the heat.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Yeah, it the desert, shade works. In humid areas, not so much.
Basic things you can do:
1. Know the heat exhaustion/stroke symptoms: nausea, rapid heartbeat, confusion, disorientation, dizziness, muscle cramps, lack of sweating (even though you ought to be sweating).
2. Wear loose clothing, and wide-brimmed hats.
3. Drink water, tea, Gatorade. Squeeze a bit of lime or lemon into a glass of water. Don’t drink alcohol drinks.
4. Do physical stuff in the mornings, and avoid afternoon sun.
5. If you got any medical conditions, that just doubles up your risk in high-temp situations. Stay in the shade when possible.
6. Cold watermelon is a good afternoon treat.
7. Keep a bottle of water around and sip it every 30 to 60 minutes.
8. Walking out to the car at noon? Open the doors and let it air out a minute before you jump in.
9. If you have to be in the sun for an hour...use suntan lotion and a loose long sleeve shirt.
10. If you think for a moment that you got symptoms of heat exhaustion/stroke...stop and let someone know. Find shade, and sip as much water as you can.
In the Arizona desert, your perspiration will evaporate, creating a mini-cooling system for your body.
I used to be a long-distance runner and I could run in the heat of Arizona because of this process.
But in Florida, I would run and perspire and I would only get hotter because the air was too humid for it to evaporate and naturally cool me.
I'm retired now and I only walk instead of run. It is still difficult to tolerate the heat and humidity on my morning walk.
My cattle farm requires my wife and I to be out in the heat most of the day. But we are forced to come inside every so often so we can cool off and recover some. Otherwise, it would be impossible to stay outdoors continually all day.
Yup. Went through Air Force Basic Training in July/August in San Antonio, TX, during my time, I spent two years in Korea (re-upped for Korea after the first year, cuz I was trying to get to D-M in Tucson, and didn't want to go to Fort Meade in MD). Spent my last three years in Tucson. I'll take 100 degrees in Tucson over 80+ degrees in either San Antonio or Korea any day.
Her first heat stroke was a warning, she did not heed that warning. With heat strokes you don’t get a lot of warnings.
In Charlevoix Mi. where I lived for thirty five years, we had the same mailman (maleman(?), (I know, sexist), for over fifteen years. Alfred would even wear shorts in the northern Michigan winters when he delivered our mail.
Recent broken ankle in a person her age, having to spend most of the day seated in her mail truck -— I would suspect a blood clot or fat embolism, to the brain, lungs, or heart. Just my two cents.
DZs (drop zones) ar ft. Bragg are white sand. In the summer the sun
reflects back from the sand and you can get sunburned in odd places like under your chin. Also with the humidity it is just miserable.
Oops. Didn’t see your post til after I posted mine.
Sorting is already automated and why it’s so screwed up.
Only up to a point. My brother is a mail carrier, and he spends several hours “casing” his mail, before it is ready to be delivered, meaning he still has to organize it into the order of his route stops.
#22 Check out Flagstaff, AZ. The temps are ‘normal’.
This is really sad. I was out in that heat for 2 errands that day and it was brain-penetrating. It was like being seriously drugged. I think once 115+ heats settles into you, there may be an effect similar to hypothermia, where you no longer feel heat per se but you just start to fade and feel curiously numb. Her truck was open on both sides and I dont think there is a/c nor would it help with that open mail truck. It breaks my heart, really.
Yes, you are right, you need to prepare yourself. By the second day I chose not to leave the house much at all. But that first day, no one could prepare much because it had been in the 80s for a few weeks or even the 70s. It went up almost 30 degrees really fast. Poor lady.
Was she in general poor health? Was she obese? Diabetic?
It was her first day back at work after being off for several months with an ankle injury. She definitely was NOT in good shape.
We had a co-worker die at my work on Monday. He was off the week before at the hospital and came back to work Monday and died the same day. He wasn’t in good shape either.
For most northern European blood types, the older you get the harder it is to tolerate hot days.
Wouldn’t that be hyperthermia?
.
hee hee... empty of people.
Well, yes, it would! If there is such a thing. I bet it has a similar slow effect that can take over if you ignore the first symptoms.
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