PHOENIX — Ron Falk lost his right leg, had an extensive skin graft on his left, and is still recovering a year after collapsing on the scorching asphalt outside a Phoenix convenience store where he stopped for an ice-cold soda during a stroll. . heat wave.
Now using a wheelchair, the 62-year-old has lost his job and his home. He is recovering in a medical respite center for patients who have nowhere else to go; There he undergoes physical therapy and treatment for a bacterial infection in what remains of his right leg, which is too swollen to wear the prosthetic he hoped would help him walk again.
“If you don’t get a place to cool off, the heat will get to you,” said Falk, who lost consciousness due to heatstroke. “Then you won’t know what’s going on, like in my case.”
Scalding sidewalks and unshaded playgrounds pose a risk of superficial burns because the air temperature reach new summer highs in southwestern cities like Phoenix, which just recorded its hottest June on record. The average daytime high was 109.5 degrees Fahrenheit (43 Celsius), with no single 24-hour high below 100 (37.7 C).
Young children, older adults and homeless people are especially at risk for contact burns, which can occur within seconds when skin touches a surface that is 180 degrees Fahrenheit (82 C).
Since the beginning of June, 50 people have been hospitalized with burns of this type and four have died at Valleywise Health Medical Center in Phoenix, which operates the largest burn center in the Southwest, serving patients from Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, southern California and Texas, according to its director, Dr. Kevin Foster. About 80% were injured in the Phoenix metro area.
Last year, the center admitted 136 patients for superficial burns from June to August, up from 85 during the same period in 2022, Foster said. Fourteen died. One in five was homeless.
“Last year’s record heat wave brought an alarming number of patients with potentially fatal burns,” Foster said of a 31 day period, including all of last July, with temperatures at or above 110 degrees (43 C) during Phoenix’s hottest summer ever.
In Las Vegas, which regularly sees triple-digit summer spikes, 22 people were hospitalized in June alone at University Medical Center’s Lions Burn Care Center, spokesman Scott Kerbs said. That’s almost half the 46 hospitalized during the three summer months last year.
Like Phoenix, the desert sun beats down on Las Vegas for hours every day, frying outdoor surfaces like asphalt, concrete and metal doors on cars and playground equipment like swings and monkey bars.
Victims of superficial burns often include children injured from walking barefoot on scalding concrete or touching hot surfaces, adults who have passed out on the sidewalk while intoxicated, and elderly people who have fallen to the sidewalk due to heatstroke or another medical emergency.
Some don’t survive.
Thermal injuries were among the leading or contributing causes of last year’s crisis. 645 heat-related deaths in Maricopa County, which encompasses Phoenix.
One victim was an 82-year-old woman with dementia and heart disease admitted to a suburban Phoenix hospital after being found on the scorching sidewalk on an August day that reached 106 degrees (41.1 C).
With a body temperature of 105 degrees (40.5 C), the woman was rushed to the hospital with second-degree burns to her back and right side covering 8% of her body. She died three days later.
Many patients with superficial burns also suffered potentially fatal heatstroke.
Valleywise Hospital’s emergency department recently adopted a new protocol For all heatstroke victims, submerge patients in a bag of slushy ice to quickly reduce body temperature.
Recovery for people with skin burns was often protracted, with patients undergoing multiple skin grafts and other surgeries, followed by months of recovery in specialized wards or rehabilitation facilities.
Bob Woolley, 71, suffered second- and third-degree burns to his hands, arms, legs and torso after stumbling into the scalding backyard rock garden of his Phoenix home, wearing only swimming trunks and a tank top.
“The ordeal was extremely painful, almost unbearable,” said Woolley, who was hospitalized at the Valleywise burn center for several months. He said he considers himself “95% recovered” after extensive skin grafts and physical therapy and has resumed some previous activities such as swimming and motorcycling.
Some skin burn victims in both Phoenix and Las Vegas were children.
“In many cases, this involves children walking or crawling on hot surfaces,” Curbs said of those hospitalized in downtown Las Vegas.
Foster said about 20 percent of hospitalized and outpatient skin burn victims treated in downtown Phoenix are children.
Young children are not fully aware of the damage a hot metal doorknob or scalding sidewalk can cause.
“Because they’re playing, they’re not paying attention,” said urban climatologist Ariane Middel, an assistant professor at Arizona State University who leads the study. SHaDE Laboratorya research team studying the effects of urban heat.
“They might not even realize it’s hot.”
In measurement surface temperatures of playground equipment, the team found that in 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 C) weather without shade, a slide can heat up to 160 degrees (71.1 C), but a cover can reduce that to 111 degrees (43 .8 C). A rubber ground covering can heat up to 188 degrees (86.6 C), a handrail can heat up to 120 degrees (48.8 C), and concrete can heat up to 132 degrees (55.5 C).
Many metro Phoenix parks have covered picnic tables and plastic fabric stretched over play equipment, keeping metal or plastic surfaces up to 30 degrees cooler. But many don’t, Middel said.
She said cooler wood chips feel better underfoot than rubber mats, which are designed to protect children from head injuries but absorb heat from the scorching sun. Just like rubber, artificial grass gets hotter than asphalt.
“We need to think about alternative surface types, because most of the surfaces we use in our infrastructure are heat sponges,” Middel said.
Hot concrete and asphalt also present burn risks for pets.
Veterinarians recommend that dogs use booties to protect paws during outdoor walks in summer or keep them in cooler grassy areas. Owners are also advised to ensure their pets drink plenty of water and do not become overheated. Phoenix bans dogs on the city’s popular trails on days the National Weather Service issues an excessive heat warning.
Recovering at Phoenix’s Circle the City, a respite care center he was sent to after being released from the Valleywise burn unit, Falk said he never imagined Phoenix’s heat could cause him to pass out on the scorching asphalt, in shorts and a t-shirt.
Because he carried no identification or phone, no one knew where he was for months. He has a long way to go, but he still hopes to get some of his old life back, working at an entertainment events dealership.
“I kind of went into a downward spiral,” Falk acknowledged. “I finally woke up and said, ‘Hey, wait, I lost a leg.’ But that doesn’t mean you’re useless.”
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