Heat is resulting in heart attacks Bonn rescue services are well prepared
Bonn · Dehydration, circulatory problems and heart attacks - these are some of the ailments that hospitals and emergency centers in Bonn have been seeing in the past days. And after a slight reprieve, more extreme heat is expected.
A sigh of relief in Bonn: After temperatures of up to 36 degrees Celsius at the beginning of the week forced Bonners to sweat it out, the thermometer on Thursday indicated a pleasant 28 degrees Celsius. On the weekend, however, temperatures are expected to exceed 37 degrees Celsius again - and these high temperatures cause a lot of trouble for many people in Bonn. As a result, the hospitals have more work to do.
"On Tuesday there was a lot going on in the hospitals. We were mainly dealing with heart attacks," said Katharina Müller-Stromberg of the Bonn Community Hospital, which includes the St. Elisabeth, St. Petrus and St. Johannes hospitals. On Wednesday, however, it was comparatively quiet. Müller-Stromberg assumes that people had adapted better to the heat.
50 percent more patients with heat related symptoms
In the Johanniter and Waldkrankenhaus (hospitals), there were also no signs of an increase in patients due to heat-related ailments on Wednesday. "There was no increase in the number of patients, but in the emergency center at Johanniter Waldkrankenhaus there were 50 percent more patients with heat symptoms than usual," explained Michael Forst of Johanniter GmbH. On average, between 70 and 100 patients come to the emergency center every day. "The total number of these patients has not increased in the past few days, but most of them now come in with complaints due to the heat," said Forst. Often those seeking help have drunk far too little and are dehydrated.
The heat is not yet causing any problems for the rescue services of the city of Bonn. "The number of operations is quite normal for us at the moment. Of course, a slightly larger number of people than usual have problems with their circulatory systems - but we don't have a lot more call-outs," said Frank Frenser, press spokesman for the Bonn Fire Department, to the GA. A total of 17 rescue vehicles and three ambulances are stationed in Bonn. "If, for example, all three vehicles are in use simultaneously in Beuel, we can also use an ambulance from Sankt Augustin or Siegburg due to our control center network with the Rhein-Sieg district," explained Frenser. This prevents a shortage of rescue equipment and vehicles. The firefighters in Bonn also have little to do at the moment with regard to the number of weather-related fires. Over the past three days, city firefighters have only been called out to two smaller vegetation fires.
(Orig. text: Maximilian Mühlens / Translation: ck)
