Cerritos’ campus has recently fallen under siege by immense heat waves ravaging across campus these past couple days leaving students and faculty to resort to some cooling tactics.
“It can happen to anyone,” Associate Dean of Student Health, Wellness and Veterans Nancy Montgomery said. “The symptoms of heat stroke are high body temperature, lack of sweating, nausea (and) vomiting.”
Montgomery emphasized that lack of liquid in the body is a main concern.
“The humid heat we’ve been getting,” Montgomery said, “not only makes us sweat, but it goes out and gets vaporized. Then, it gets even worse and that’s when we begin to feel confusion and nausea.”
The best fluid to drink is water. “Caffeinated drinks leave our body too soon and we don’t hold enough water in our body.” Montgomery said.
Architecture major Richard Ibarra believes that a heat stroke is when the body is “lacking proper hydration”.
“I try to stay inside,” Ibarra said. “I stay indoors or under shade.”
“Sometimes I just fight it,” chuckled Ibarra.
Given the scenario of a person experiencing a heat stroke and what he or she should do to help, Ibarra is not fully trained on the matter.
“I wouldn’t know what to do exactly, but I would call for help or splash water in the person’s face and drag them into the shade,” commented Ibarra.
One student who has actually experienced something along the lines of a heat stroke is business management major Airiana Sheffield. “A heat stroke is when there is too much heat and you pass out,” Sheffield said.
Airiana has multiple forms to combat the heat. “I drink a lot of water and stay in the shade as much as I can,” Sheffield said.
Being a victim of a heat stroke herself, Sheffield commented by saying, “The experience is scary. I don’t know what happened to me.”
She went on to explain what it was like to experience something like that. Sheffield said that she was waiting at the bus stop when suddenly she woke up on the floor gingerly getting back up on her feet.
“That’s all I can remember,” Sheffield said.
Speech pathology major Lisa Nichole explained that she believes a heat stroke is when “the body is too hot and it cannot function properly.”
Nichole said, “I drink enough water and I make sure to eat a few hours a day to make sure that I have enough nutrition in my body to not get so hot,”
Nichole also added, “I always make sure to carry a water bottle with me every day.”
