“August generally sees the most heat illness reported,” write Moms’ Almeta Cooper and pediatrician Dr. Lisa Patel, executive director of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, in an op-ed published today in USA Today. “The pattern repeats every year: athletes who aren’t just flushed and sweaty, but vomit, faint and collapse. Tragically, several die annually.”
As women of color, mothers and grandmothers, and climate advocates, Almeta and Dr. Patel were moved to use their platforms to draw attention to this problem. It is persistent, poorly understood—and entirely preventable.
Tell Congress: Protect Youth Athletes From Extreme Heat and Dirty Air
What is needed to protect athletes, they argue, is a universal protocol for extreme heat conditions like the one established for concussion prevention in the 2009 Lystedt Law. A heat protocol would take “the decision to keep playing out of the hands of an athlete, coach or parent in the moment that adrenaline says, ‘Push through.’”
They point to this summer’s record-breaking heat—coming on the heels of 11 consecutive years of record heat—as reason why a national standard is needed to protect youth athletes. More than 9,000 high school athletes are treated for heat illness every year, and heat illness is the third leading cause of death among high school athletes.
“Heat illness isn’t always easily recognized,” Almeta and Dr. Patel write. “Symptoms initially can mimic fatigue and dehydration. We well know that heat exhaustion converts to heat stroke fast without intervention. Delayed recognition can lead to life-threatening situations.”
So it would make sense for a strong prevention protocol to include mandatory heat-safety certification for coaches and trainers, water stations and scheduled breaks, and a research and information hub for parents, coaches, trainers, and athletes. Because heat illness often occurs during practices when no medical professional is present, a strong protocol would also require licensed Emergency Medical Services coverage at every practice.
We also know that extreme heat doesn’t impact all people and communities equally. Children, who are still developing, are more impacted. And “Black Americans are more likely than the general public to carry the sickle cell trait, a condition that appears to put them at higher risk, according to the CDC. They also are more likely to be exposed to air pollution and can face other health issues rooted in racism.”
More than 27 million youth play organized sports in the United States. Solutions, like the solid one Almeta and Dr. Patel suggest in USA Today, are at hand to ensure they can all compete safely. Here’s hoping a universal protocol to protect student athletes playing in heat will soon be adopted.
Tell Congress: Protect Youth Athletes From Extreme Heat and Dirty Air