Building A 30 Day Buffer On A Budget and Handling Heat Related Illnesses

Summary

---

Practical Prepping Podcast – Episode 563

Building A 30 Day Buffer On A Budget and Handling Heat Related Illnesses
Date: July 27, 2026
Hosts: Mark & Krista Lawley

---

Episode Overview

In this episode, Mark and Krista Lawley break down two crucial aspects of practical preparedness:

1. How to create a simple, affordable 30-day emergency buffer for your family—ensuring you can cover food, water, and essential bills if your income stops or disaster interrupts daily life
2. Recognizing and handling heat-related illnesses—from heat cramps to heat stroke, with actionable advice for prevention and emergency response

The discussion is focused on real-world risks, without doomsday drama—just straightforward, family-friendly solutions.

---

Segment 1: Building a 30-Day Buffer on a Real-Life Budget

What is a 30-Day Buffer?

• Mark (01:29):
  "With a one month buffer, your household can operate for 30 days without new income and without needing immediate outside assistance."
  • Enough food (shelf-stable and freezer, not just “emergency rations”)
  • Enough water for all members (including safe storage and basic hygiene)
  • Cash reserves to cover core bills (housing, utilities, insurance, transportation, basic groceries)

Why Bother? (02:43)

• Defends against common disruptions: job loss, medical leave, severe weather, repair emergencies
• Creates breathing room to avoid panic: "It's financial and logistical margin and it's the space between stability and crisis." – Mark (03:13)

Step-by-Step: How to Build the Buffer

1. Assess Your Starting Point (04:18)

   • Inventory pantry and freezer
   • List must-have food items for a month
   • Tally essential monthly expenses and identify gaps ("Instead of guessing.")

2. Food Strategy (04:42)

   • Buy what you already eat—focus on adding a few extra staple items each shopping trip
   • Prioritize "calorie-dense, low-cost staples" (04:59)
   • Rotate stock: "I shop my own pantry." – Krista (05:16)
   • Use and replace older items to prevent waste

3. Water Storage Plan (05:18)

   • Minimum: 1 gallon/person/day (drinking and basics)
   • Use store-bought sturdy gallon jugs or cases of bottled water
   • DO NOT reuse milk jugs ("It's just virtually impossible to clean out all of the bacteria in there." – Mark, 05:18)
   • Refill and label sturdy containers as you use them

   Storage Tips: (06:42)

   • Never store water directly on concrete. Elevate it for safety and longevity.
   • Store under beds/closets as needed.

4. Establishing a Cash Emergency Fund (07:05)

   • "Cash can be king. And sometimes it can be the only thing..." – Mark (07:09)
   • Start with $500, automate small weekly deposits ($40/paycheck builds $500 in 3 months)
   • Suggests cutting a nonessential bill/expense temporarily to accelerate savings (08:39)
   • "Anything's better than nothing."

5. Spread Out Purchases (08:51)

   • Build buffer over 8–12 weeks to avoid straining budget
   • Watch for sales, discounts, and BOGOs—and "do not go into debt for preparedness purchases" (09:50)

---

Segment 2: Handling Heat-Related Illnesses

Intro: Why This Matters

• Recent increases in local emergency calls due to heat (10:21)
• Mark: "Heat related illnesses are medical conditions that are caused by the body's inability to properly cool itself and they range from mild to life threatening." (10:59)

The “Air You Can Wear” Factor

• Krista describes oppressive humidity: "It's a heavy, soupy, hot, miserable air with a high dew point." (10:32)
• Mark: "We call it air you can wear." (10:52)

---

Breakdown: Recognizing and Treating Heat Illnesses

Each condition is explained in order of severity:

1. Heat Cramps

• Description: Painful muscle spasms after heavy sweating/electrolyte loss (12:19)
• Prevention & Response:
  • Hydrate before/during/after activity with electrolyte-rich liquids
  • Take frequent shade/cooling breaks
  • Reduce activity during peak heat (10 a.m.–4 p.m.)
  • If cramps start: move to cool area, hydrate slowly, stretch and massage affected muscles

"We're talking about charley horses here is kind of what we're talking about." – Mark (13:31)

2. Heat Syncope (Fainting)

• Description: Brief loss of consciousness due to heat/dehydration (13:56)
• Prevention & Response:
  • Hydrate well, avoid standing motionless
  • Rise slowly from sitting or lying down
  • If feeling faint, sit/lie down and hydrate (with electrolytes)
  • If syncope occurs, "lay the person down...elevate their legs...loosen any tight clothing...provide some cool fluids for them to sip slowly once they are fully alert." – Krista (16:01)

Anecdote: Krista recalls her personal experience with fainting from heat (14:09)

3. Heat Exhaustion

• Description: Serious reaction from prolonged heat/fluid loss ("I've experienced this twice. Both times I was on duty." – Mark, 16:35)
• Symptoms: Heavy sweating, nausea, weakness, cool clammy skin, rapid pulse, dizziness
• Prevention & Response:
  • Increase fluids, wear loose/light-colored clothes
  • Do outdoor work early/late to avoid hottest hours
  • Take regular, even preemptive breaks
  • Use wet cloths, misters, fans
  • If symptoms show: move to cool area, cool with wet cloth/fans, hydrate slowly if conscious

"Don’t try to push through and think you can get through faster. You may not be able to make it." – Krista (17:51)

4. Heat Stroke – Medical Emergency

• Description: Life-threatening failure of body's temperature regulation (above 104°F for adults)
• Key Symptoms: Red, hot, dry skin; confusion; slurred speech; seizures; loss of consciousness (19:54)
• Prevention:
  • Avoid extreme exertion in heat
  • Never leave a person or pet in a parked car
  • Check on infants, elderly, people with special needs during heat waves (20:47)

If heat stroke is suspected:

• "Call 911 immediately" – Mark (20:58)
• Know your country's emergency number (21:32)
• Move the person to a cooler area
• Begin aggressive cooling:
  1. Cold water immersion (stock tank, tub, kiddie pool) – "gold standard," stir water for best effect (24:09)
  2. Cold water drenching and aggressive fanning
  3. Ice packs (neck, armpits, groin, sides of torso)
  4. Evaporative cooling with wet clothes/fanning (25:33)
• Critical: Do not give fluids if the person is unconscious or unable to swallow safely (22:39, 26:28)
• Place unconscious but breathing individuals on their side (recovery position)
• Monitor airway/breathing closely; be ready to perform CPR if needed

"Immediate, decisive cooling has been known to save lives." – Krista (27:03)

---

Notable Quotes & Moments

• Mark (03:13): "It creates breathing room and it gives you time to make decisions instead of reacting in panic. It's financial and logistical margin and it's the space between stability and crisis."
• Krista (05:16): "I shop my own pantry."
• Mark (07:09): "Cash can be king. And sometimes it can be the only thing."
• Mark (10:59): "Heat related illnesses are medical conditions that are caused by the body's inability to properly cool itself and they range from mild to to life threatening."
• Krista (20:25): "Never leave anyone or any animal in a parked vehicle."
• Krista (27:03): "Immediate, decisive cooling has been known to save lives."

---

Useful Timestamps

• 00:41 – Introduction to Episode & Main Topics
• 01:29 – What a 30-Day Buffer Means
• 04:18 – How to Start the Buffer Process
• 05:18 – Storing Water Safely
• 07:05 – Creating a Cash Emergency Fund
• 09:50 – Saving on Prep Without Debt
• 10:21 – Segment on Heat-Related Illnesses
• 12:19 – What are Heat Cramps & How to Prevent
• 13:56 – Heat Syncope (Fainting)
• 16:34 – Heat Exhaustion Experiences & Tips
• 19:08 – Heat Stroke: Recognition and Response
• 21:32 – Emergency Numbers by Country
• 23:38 – Step-by-Step: Cooling Methods for Heat Stroke

---

Key Takeaways

• Preparedness starts with simple steps: Use what you have, build slowly, and prioritize basic needs over luxury gear.
• Spread costs out to fit any budget—every little bit helps.
• Heat illnesses can go from mild to deadly fast—early recognition and rapid, decisive interventions save lives.
• Stay practical, not panicked: As Mark and Krista emphasize, prepping isn’t about apocalypse fears—it's about real-life resilience for families.

---

For episode notes, links, and checklists, visit: practicalprepping.info/563

Transcript

[Mark]

If your PayCheck stopped for 30 days, would your household stay steady or start scrambling by week two? If extreme heat knocked out the power, would you know how to recognize heat stroke before it turned deadly? Today, we're talking about building a simple 30 day buffer on a real life budget and handling heat related illnesses the right way. Real risks, practical steps, no drama.

[Krista]

Welcome to Practical Prepping. Today is July 27, 2026 and this is episode 563. This is the prepping podcast with no bunkers, no zombies and no alien invasions. Just Practical Prepp, where we teach everyday people how to prepare for life's emergencies, disasters and crises. And we're here to help you get prepared. I'm Krista.

[Mark]

And I'm Mark. If you'd like the episode notes for today's show, go to practicalprepping.info 563. Now, we're talking about building a 30 day buffer on a budget and we'll be talking about handling heat related illnesses.

[Krista]

So let's talk about that. What does a one month buffer actually mean?

[Mark]

Well, with a one month buffer, your household can operate for 30 days without new income and without needing immediate outside assistance. Okay, it means three things. Start with food security. For 30 days, you have enough shelf, stable and freezer food to feed everyone in your home. For one month, you have adequate calories and balanced nutrition using foods you already eat. We're not talking about 25 year emergency foods here, we're talking about foods that you normally eat and of course, my

[Krista]

favorite, water, the water you have on hand, enough storage for drinking purposes and basic hygiene or a reliable plan to at least access and purify water if your utilities are interrupted.

[Mark]

And it's having one month of essential expenses covered, enough cash reserves to pay your core bills if the income stops temporarily. We're talking here housing, utilities, insurance, transportation, basic groceries. You have that 30 day supply. But you may need to add milk and bread for the family during that time.

[Krista]

You know, a 30 day buffer is going to protect you against the most common disruptions, things like a job loss, medical leave, even severe weather that can impact you for weeks. A short term supply chain could be interrupted or there could be some unexpected repairs that need to be done. Suddenly. I was in a client's home the other day and they were dealing with a catastrophic plumbing leak while they were on vacation. So this bad boy went unchecked for a couple of weeks. So it's been a complete nightmare for them.

[Mark]

And that emergency fund comes in handy for that kind of thing. It creates breathing room and it gives you time to make decisions instead of reacting in panic. It's financial and logistical margin and it's the space between stability and crisis.

[Krista]

So we're going to talk a little bit later about how to create a 30 day buffer on a budget and we're going to do that in a minute. But first, we like to say that today's cup of coffee comes from Heidi, who has been a supporter of our podcast since March. Heidi, we really do appreciate your support.

[Mark]

Yes, we do.

[Krista]

And friends, you too can go to practicalprepping.info support where you can show us a little bit of love by buying us a few cups of coffee. Or maybe you would even consider a coffee membership just like Heidi did. It's only $5 per month, but that really goes a long way to help us offset the expenses of the show. So please consider helping us [e-mail] now let's get back to the show.

[Mark]

So here is how we create that buffer. First, assess your current starting point. Take inventory of the pantry, take inventory of the freezer, make a list of what you would need to feed your family for a month and calculate one month of your essential expenses. Now identify the gaps instead of guessing.

[Krista]

Also create a food strategy. Of course you want to buy what you're already eating, so consider adding one or two or a few extra items every shopping trip to build up toward that 30 day buffer. Focus on some of the calorie dense, low cost staples and it helps to

[Guest or Contributor]

build in some depth in your core

[Krista]

foods and then just create a simple rotation system. I do that very same thing. I go into my prepper pantry and

[Guest or Contributor]

I rotate out some things that I may have put back a year or two ago and then I can replace them with more current products later on.

[Mark]

She calls it shopping her pantry.

[Krista]

I shop my own pantry.

[Mark]

You want to create that water storage plan. Now the very minimum daily needs of 1 gallon per person per day, that's a very minimum. We store more, but start there a minimum of 1 gallon per day per person. Now there's some short term storage options, but do not reuse milk jugs. It's just virtually impossible to clean out all of the bacteria in there. And that's going to create an issue for you later. And they leak very easily. They're not intended for long term storage.

[Krista]

That's true.

[Mark]

But you can get some gallon jugs of water from the grocery store. Some of these are fairly thick plastic. You can use cases of bottled water. You can refill sturdy gallon jugs. Now, we use distilled water. I'm on a cpap. I use distilled water in that. Krista uses it in a humidifier. So we get quite a few of these gallon jugs that are rather substantial, and we refill those with tap water, put a date on it and set it aside. And you want to gradually increase that supply. And that's how we're increasing that supply, is we're adding to it as we use up our distilled water.

[Krista]

And remember, when you're storing water, don't store it directly on a concrete floor. Put it on a pallet or raise it up on some kind of a wood shelf. If necessary, you could store it under the bed or in the back of a closet. But we just recommend not directly on a concrete floor, just in case of a leak or possible contamination.

[Mark]

If there's a flood, well, it will leach over time.

[Krista]

Yeah, that's true.

[Mark]

Now, let's talk about developing that emergency fund.

[Krista]

Okay.

[Mark]

Cash can be king. And sometimes it can be the only thing I've seen that happen, especially when you're talking about damage after a storm. And maybe the store is able to open, but they can't process debit cards. Maybe their Internet is out and so they can't do that. But they can sell you gas for cash, right.

[Krista]

Or anything else, you know, for cash.

[Mark]

So you want a cash emergency fund for those ATM outages and for that grid damage, as we mentioned there. But start with $500 as a goal, and you can bill toward one month of essential expenses after that. And one of the things that helps to do this is kind of automate small weekly deposits. Now, I like having a cash emergency fund here in the house. If you put in something like $10, $20, $50 per paycheck, whatever you can do, Anything's better than nothing. But I ran the numbers on this when I was researching some of this, and $40 per pay period over three months will give you a $500 emergency fund. So it's really not that hard to build. Just have to set that money aside. And one thing that I've seen some folks recommend doing is cutting one expense temporarily to accelerate the progress of that.

[Krista]

Oh, yeah, I've seen that. Where sometimes you might have to cut out that fancy cup of coffee in the morning from the fancy drive through. But if that helps get you toward that emergency fund, you'll be thanking yourself many times over.

[Mark]

Yeah, I carry a thermos. I'd rather not spend $5 for a cup of coffee when I can have. You want good coffee? I want good coffee. I want homemade coffee that I'm used to drinking. In doing this, there's some ways you can reduce the financial strain, and one is to spread these purchases over 8 to 12 weeks. We're talking about building a month's worth of cushion, but you can build that over three months and it doesn't hurt that bad. Watch for sales and seasonal discounts and bogos. I used to love to go into Publix and they would have something unadvertised and it was buy one, get one free, right? Yeah. And I remember the first time I found that particular case was American cheese and I was eating a lot of sandwiches with sliced cheese. So it worked great. But do not go into debt for preparedness purchases.

[Krista]

Okay, friends, are you learning from the podcast? Are you getting some new ideas for your prepping journey or are you identifying a skill that maybe you need to learn? In other words, do you receive value from our little show here, Practical Prepping Podcast? Would you help us out by giving back a little? Go to practicalprepping.info support and you'll find several ways that you can help support our show. Now let's jump on over into segment two and we're going to talk about heat related illnesses, something we've been seeing in the news a bit here lately.

[Mark]

We have. I saw a thing on the local news about how many calls the local fire department had increased just because of heat related illnesses.

[Krista]

It's where we're having the kind of weather here in northern Alabama where It might be 88 degrees outside, but the heat index humidity factor makes it feel like it's 108. And I have felt that kind of air. It's a heavy, soupy, hot, miserable air with a high dew point. Relative humidity 95 plus percent.

[Mark]

Yeah, we call it air you can wear.

[Krista]

It's like soup. You're breathing soup. It's just miserable.

[Mark]

But heat related illnesses are medical conditions that are caused by the body's inability to properly cool itself and they range from mild to to life threatening.

[Krista]

So we want to talk about some of the early recognition and the intervention tactics that you need to take if you're starting to see yourself or someone else beginning to suffer from a heat related illness.

[Mark]

Now, one thing that I do is wear a cool cloth when I'm working outside in the heat. It's simple and it really does help, especially in this oppressive heat that we're experiencing this year. All you do is wet it, snap it, and put it around your neck. The evaporative cooling keeps you much more comfortable and safer. There are two that I use, and one is made by Mission and the other by Frogg Toggs. And I'll put the link to those in the show notes and on the featured Items [e-mail] featured.

[Krista]

That's really important. If you're mowing the grass or working in your garden or just outside with your kids, just having that cool cloth around your neck can lower that temperature in the wintertime.

[Mark]

It really helps. It really does help. Now, the first thing we're going to cover, and these are in ascending order of severity.

[Krista]

Okay?

[Mark]

Heat cramps.

[Krista]

Heat cramps.

[Mark]

They're painful muscle cramps caused by heavy sweating and electrolyte loss. Now, you see these. A lot of football games players having leg cramps, okay? The heat cramps that come upon them, muscle spasms, usually in the arms, can be in the leg, but can also be in the abdomen. And it'll be along with heavy sweating. And it's common during that strenuous activity in the heat.

[Krista]

So let's talk about prevention. You want to hydrate before you begin these activities and during these activities and after the activities. In other words, properly hydrate before, during, and after. And you want to use some beverages that have proper electrolytes in them because this helps to replace the fluids and the salts that you lose through sweating. And take frequent breaks in shaded or cooler areas just to get some of that heat off of your skin. And if you can, limit some very intense activity during the peak heat, which is generally between about 10 o' clock in the morning to almost 4 o' clock in the afternoon, those tend to be the hours where the direct heat is so much more oppressive.

[Mark]

Right now, if you're experiencing or someone you're with is experiencing heat cramps, move them to a cool place and drink water or that electrolyte. Drink slowly. Don't just chug it down, and then gently stretch and massage the affected muscles. Okay, we're talking about charley horses here is kind of what we're talking about.

[Krista]

Yeah, for sure.

[Mark]

This next one is heat syncope.

[Krista]

Now, syncope is a medical term. What does it stand for?

[Mark]

It means fainting.

[Krista]

Oh, okay.

[Mark]

And this is a fainting episode caused by heat exposure and dehydration.

[Krista]

I've actually experienced that.

[Mark]

Yes. And symptoms can include dizziness, lightheadedness, feigning, which you did on a public roadway, pale skin. And it often occurs after standing quickly in hot conditions.

[Krista]

So a great way for prevention is to again maintain that hydration before, during, and after. Avoid standing motionless in heat, and especially if you're locking your knees, because that can actually accelerate the bad symptoms. The kids that are in band camp during the summer, a lot of times this is going to be happening to them because they're not accustomed to rehearsing in the hot of the day. And I know that some of the instructors and the coaches and the teachers

[Guest or Contributor]

are trying to be very cognizant of

[Krista]

the hottest part of the day where they'll do some of their training inside. And that's great. But at some point, these students are going to have to be practicing the athletic field or the banfield out on the field. And so if you're feeling this syncope type feeling coming on, get yourself to a cooler place if you can slowly sit down, lie down, if it makes you more comfortable, and begin hydrating, especially with the electrolytes.

[Mark]

And I've seen videos of this happening with lines of troops that were being reviewed and they've been standing at attention for some period of time, and all of a sudden one of them just falls over, falls right out. Just falls out right there on the parade ground. So be careful with this. And also be careful to rise slowly from sitting or lying positions.

[Guest or Contributor]

Yeah. No jumping up.

[Mark]

No jumping up. And the older I get, the more important this is. Nothing related with heat, but I'm a little bit more cautious when I stand up now than I was 20 years ago.

[Guest or Contributor]

Sure.

[Krista]

I know it feels different.

[Guest or Contributor]

Yes. So the treatment for that, of course, move to a cool area, lay the person down, and if you can, elevate

[Krista]

their legs, even if you have to

[Guest or Contributor]

put some jackets or clothing up underneath their legs, get those feet above that heart level, loosen any tight clothing that

[Krista]

might be binding on them that might

[Guest or Contributor]

be causing a lot of elevation of heat, and provide some cool fluids for them to sip slowly once they are fully alert. Never try to give someone something to drink if they're not conscious.

[Mark]

Now let's move to heat exhaustion.

[Guest or Contributor]

Okay.

[Mark]

Heat exhaustion is a serious condition from prolonged heat exposure and fluid loss. I've experienced this twice. Both times I was on duty. Both times involved being at a wreck, being in a vehicle in the middle of the summer, in August in particular, and with high temperature and high humidity.

[Krista]

And then you're in all that gear.

[Mark]

Yeah. And then when it's over, I went down.

[Krista]

Yeah.

[Mark]

But some of the symptoms here are heavy sweating, weakness, nausea, headache, cool clammy skin, a rapid pulse, and dizziness.

[Krista]

Yeah.

[Mark]

And it was the dizziness that really took me out when I got you. Just your feet just come out from under you, basically. And I just sat down right where I was and happened to have paramedics on the scene that were very attentive to me after they got the patient on the way to the hospital.

[Krista]

Good. Now, prevention in the case of that type of exhaustion, you want to increase your fluid intake in hot weather, especially if you know you're going to be out there in it, you know, for more than just a few moments. If at all possible, wear loose, lightweight clothing. You know, this isn't the time to be going out in, you know, hoodies and long pants maybe.

[Mark]

And it's also a time to be wearing lighter colored clothing.

[Krista]

Yes, exactly. A little bit more heat reflective that way. Work during the cooler hours. If you can get your outdoor work done before 10 or say after 5, that might be a big advantage for you so that you're not putting yourself at risk in those most exposed hours for heat. And take regular cooling breaks. Even if you don't feel like you need to stop, go ahead and stop, sit down, get cool, get in the shade, Give your physical body a break. Don't try to push through and think you can get through faster. You may not be able to make it. So be very.

[Mark]

And here you can use wet cloths or mist with a water and fan.

[Krista]

They do make little personal. Yes, they even make fans in a hat. Now I saw a boonie hat that has two fans built in on the brim of each side just to get your face cool.

[Mark]

And I've always seen those misters with the little fan blade on it that turns those work. They really do. But you can also use small sips of cool fluids and you can give that to someone else as long as they are conscious as well. As Krista mentioned a while ago, now we move to heat stroke. Yeah, this is, this is the big one. This is the true medical emergency.

[Krista]

You will be calling 911.

[Mark]

Hopefully you will be. But we have some treatment options of how to handle this if 911 or if your emergency services are not available or are delayed. We're going to talk about that in a minute. But this is the most severe and life threatening heat illness.

[Krista]

People die from heat stroke.

[Mark]

Yes, they do. And it occurs when the body's temperature regulation fails.

[Krista]

Yeah, this is like you've gone through all of those other stages and now you're at literally the end of the rope. And the symptoms can be when the body temperature registers above 104Fahrenheit and we're

[Mark]

talking about an adult there. We're not talking about a child.

[Krista]

Right. The skin is hot, it's red, and it's usually dry. Not cold, clammy, or sweaty. It's dry, red skin. And there can be some behavioral symptoms like confusion, slurred speech, even seizures, or ultimately a loss of consciousness.

[Mark]

And the best way to prevent it is to avoid extreme exertion in high heat.

[Krista]

For sure.

[Mark]

Let's point this out. Never leave anyone or any animal in a parked vehicle.

[Krista]

Absolutely.

[Mark]

Without the air conditioner running. We see this every year, and it's so sad that we see children die every year from being left in a hot car. And we occasionally see pets left in hot cars and they can die as well.

[Guest or Contributor]

True.

[Mark]

You might want to check on vulnerable individuals that you know during heat waves.

[Krista]

The infants, the elderly, and those with special needs that may not have the cognitive behavior to know how to protect themselves from high heat.

[Mark]

Now, as Krista mentioned, call 911 immediately or your country's emergency number. It's not 911 in every country. It's that in the US and Canada, but for example, the United Kingdom, they dial 999 or 112. European countries are usually 112. Australia is 000. New Zealand is 111. And a number of countries have different numbers if you want police, if you want fire, or if you want ems.

[Guest or Contributor]

Oh, sure.

[Mark]

So know what your country's codes or numbers are for getting help. Write those down, memorize them, make sure the, the kids know how to use that and properly to call for assistance. But if you have someone who is experiencing heatstroke, move them to a cooler area. And you do this before, even if you've called and, and EMS is 10 minutes away, which 20 minutes may be in a rural county, something like that, it can be an extended period of time. In a city, it might be four, five, six minutes. But those time periods greatly extend when we get out away from major population centers. So you want to begin cooling these people as quickly as possible. And the gold standard here is cold water immersion, not ice water. It doesn't have to be ice water. It can be tap water, cold tap water, just cold tap water. Or you can apply ice packs to the neck, armpits, and groin.

[Krista]

Okay.

[Mark]

But don't give fluids. If the person is unconscious or not fully alert, they could have some swallowing difficulty. They can.

[Krista]

It could cause them to aspirate.

[Mark]

Now, heat stroke can develop very, very quickly, so prompt recognition and aggressive cooling can save a life. But now what do we do. If there's a delay in professional medical help. First thing is remember that it's a life threatening emergency and you must take action now.

[Krista]

Exactly.

[Mark]

See that brain injury can begin within minutes once the core temperature rises above 104 degrees Fahrenheit. So act immediately. And the goal is simple. As I said earlier, cool the body as fast as possible. Move that person out of direct heat, get them into the shade, air conditioning, or at a minimum, create airflow and remove excess clothing.

[Guest or Contributor]

These are the rapid cooling methods in order of effectiveness. Number one, cold water immersion. If it's available, immerse the person completely in cold water immediately. Like in a stock tank, a bathtub, a kiddie pool, or even a very large container. Something that can hold cold water, but not ice cold, just cold tap water is an effective temperature. And stir that water around continuously to improve the cooling. This is the gold standard when it is feasible.

[Mark]

You know, I had not thought about, until I was doing some research on this, about stirring the water continuously.

[Guest or Contributor]

Right? Because you're pulling some of the heat off of that body and you're dispersing

[Mark]

that heat down into the water. If it's not moving, that water that is right next to the body will warm very quickly. So you want to do that. Next thing is cold water drenching.

[Guest or Contributor]

You would do this if immersion. If you're not able to lift that person, for example, here's your alternative.

[Mark]

What you want to do is continuously pour cold water over the body. While you're fanning them aggressively, you're moving that air across a wet body, creating a breeze. Every time I think about cold water drenching, I see a football coach on the sidelines when his players come up behind him and dump the bucket of Gatorade on him.

[Guest or Contributor]

Maybe we don't need to be that aggressive, but.

[Mark]

Well, if it takes it, drench them, do whatever. And if you're not able to lift them into something, you may need to pour buckets of water over their body.

[Guest or Contributor]

Sure.

[Mark]

Next thing is ice packs.

[Krista]

Okay.

[Mark]

You can place these ice packs or cold compresses on major blood vessel areas. That's the neck, the armpits, the groin, on the side of the torso. Here again, rotate those frequently as they do warm up.

[Krista]

Yeah, exactly. It's like taking a fever off of somebody in a way. Also some evaporative cooling techniques. You could soak clothing or skin with cool water and fan. Continuously moving that air helps dramatically improve the heat loss. And that's exactly what you're after.

[Mark]

But if they're unconscious, but they're breathing. Place them on their side.

[Krista]

Okay.

[Mark]

Now if they're unconscious and not breathing, then we need to go to cpr. But you really need to monitor these folks for their airway and their breathing very, very closely.

[Krista]

Now, Mr. I'm going to pick your medic brain. Why would you place them on their sides?

[Mark]

One of the reasons is if they throw up, then it's.

[Krista]

It's more likely to come out in a way.

[Mark]

It's less chance of aspiration.

[Krista]

Oh, that makes sense.

[Mark]

It's called a recovery position.

[Krista]

Okay. Because yeah, nausea can very much be associated with these heat illnesses.

[Mark]

With many of these.

[Krista]

Yeah, for sure.

[Mark]

But don't give these folks fluids if they're unconscious, even if they're confused or if they're unable to swallow safely.

[Krista]

So, yeah, if they're fully alert and they're able to swallow, allow them some small sips of cool water. But the cooling of their skin does take priority. So continue that aggressive cooling until professional care arrives or until the body temperature begins to drop to approximately 101 to 102 to avoid over cooling.

[Mark]

Your heat stroke is a race against time.

[Krista]

Right.

[Mark]

That's all it is.

[Krista]

Immediate, decisive cooling has been known to save lives.

[Mark]

Yes, it has and yes it does. There you have it. And we have these listed in the episode notes. If you would like Those, go to practicalprepping.info 563 and you'll be able to download those there. Thank you for your time. Thank you for being here with us today. And as Krista always says, stuff happens. Stay prepared and we'll see you next time.