Some in Chicago losing limbs after severe cold

[Rukh O'Rorke]

edition.cnn.com/2019/01/31/weather/winter-weather-thursday-wxc/index.html

The bitter cold in Chicago has kept hospitals busy, with doctors at one facility during the brunt of an Arctic freeze treating 50 frostbite victims, including some people who may lose an arm or a leg.



"It's a horrific situation," says Dr. Stathis Poulakidas, the head of burn and wound care services at Cook County Health.

Poulakidas works at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital, a level 1 trauma center, that in a really bad year will see 150 cases of frostbite for the season. He said based on what he has seen thus far, this could be one of those years.

Half of the patients that came in over the past few days are homeless, while others had jobs that kept them out.

Poulakidas said they've seen "horrific injuries to feet and hands," some so severe that some victims may lose limbs.

Having a lot of emotions about this right now.

[Value Buy]

Feb 1, 2019 9:48:43 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

edition.cnn.com/2019/01/31/weather/winter-weather-thursday-wxc/index.html

The bitter cold in Chicago has kept hospitals busy, with doctors at one facility during the brunt of an Arctic freeze treating 50 frostbite victims, including some people who may lose an arm or a leg.



"It's a horrific situation," says Dr. Stathis Poulakidas, the head of burn and wound care services at Cook County Health.

Poulakidas works at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital, a level 1 trauma center, that in a really bad year will see 150 cases of frostbite for the season. He said based on what he has seen thus far, this could be one of those years.

Half of the patients that came in over the past few days are homeless, while others had jobs that kept them out.

Poulakidas said they've seen "horrific injuries to feet and hands," some so severe that some victims may lose limbs.

Having a lot of emotions about this right now.

I want to ask, usually there are many complaints about landlords not supplying sufficent heat levels to the apratments every year, or the furnace went out in the aprtments.
Has there been much in the local news about this issue? I imagine there was, and that is just terrible.

[Tennesseer]

My former employer has quite a few employees.  One was found frozen to death and covered in snow yesterday morning outside his work building.  Investigation ongoing.

[Value Buy]

Feb 1, 2019 10:01:01 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

My former employer has quite a few employees.  One was found frozen to death and covered in snow yesterday morning outside his work building.  Investigation ongoing.

Not a good thing.....
The extreme cold is as bad for humans as extreme heat is in the summer. Puts people with health conditions at extreme risk.

[Tennesseer]

Feb 1, 2019 10:04:01 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Feb 1, 2019 10:01:01 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

My former employer has quite a few employees.  One was found frozen to death and covered in snow yesterday morning outside his work building.  Investigation ongoing.

Not a good thing.....
The extreme cold is as bad for humans as extreme heat is in the summer. Puts people with health conditions at extreme risk.

The guy was 69 years old. An autopsy will determine cause of death. But still....

[Deleted]

Not only is it extremely cold, but also extremely slippery here on the sidewalks and roads because no salt works this cold.  Someone falling and cracking their head could die from the cold if they were knocked out for a bit.  A few years ago I slipped on the ice hauling water to my horses outside when it was really cold.  I fell flat on my back and cracked my head and to top it off, the two 5 gallon buckets of water I was carrying spilled over top of me!  I was just laying there seeing stars and couldn't move.  Thankfully, I got it together quickly enough to get up and get myself somewhere warm. 

[justme]

Feb 1, 2019 10:04:01 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Feb 1, 2019 10:01:01 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

My former employer has quite a few employees.  One was found frozen to death and covered in snow yesterday morning outside his work building.  Investigation ongoing.

Not a good thing.....
The extreme cold is as bad for humans as extreme heat is in the summer. Puts people with health conditions at extreme risk.

Extreme heat sucks (live through it every summer!), but cold has to be worse. While heat keeps things inside, I'm not sure if it every shuts most things down - and the shut down keeps less people out & about to notice things. There's no complementary hazards like ice and snow, the snow which could presumably hide someone. While death is death, recovery from heat stroke usually returns to you to normal while cold could mean loss of limbs. And the heat usually takes longer than 5 minutes to outside to get negative effects. 

Nope, as I told my friend in Chicago that said I don't know what real cold is like - I'm not stupid enough to live up there to find out! I'll take occasional hurricanes over eyeballs freezing in 5 minutes. 

[Tiny]

Feb 1, 2019 9:58:09 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Feb 1, 2019 9:48:43 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

edition.cnn.com/2019/01/31/weather/winter-weather-thursday-wxc/index.html


Having a lot of emotions about this right now.

I want to ask, usually there are many complaints about landlords not supplying sufficent heat levels to the apratments every year, or the furnace went out in the aprtments.
Has there been much in the local news about this issue? I imagine there was, and that is just terrible.

I think the heating thing is a 'general issue' and not enough heat or no heat can be reported to the Powers that Be (where my local rental property is - I as a landlord  can be reported to City (there's a department) if the property doesn't have heat and I don't do anything to fix it).   

When there is extreme cold -  unfortunately the housing stock and furnaces generally aren't really built to handle the -20 degree temps.     The City did post some information about how one's house might have dropping temperatures even though the furnace/radiators were making heat.      

I know my 70yo house was pretty darn chilly - some of the rooms got down to 50 degrees  while the thermostat was set at 70 degrees and the furnace was running pretty much nonstop once the sun went down (have a southern exposure which helped during the day).     There wasn't anything I could really do.      except hope the electricity didn't go off (I don't pray, I'm an atheist... although I did consider offering up a prayer to Zeus or Thor (lightning bolts))  

 I can't imagine how chilly the old wooden Victorian houses got...  (I remember a couple of extremely chilly days as a kid in our wooden frame poorly insulated house...  Blankets over the windows and Mom using the oven for much of the evening (baking or cooking) - and us spending most time in the kitchen/dining room where it was warmer. 

Sometimes you just have to suffer thru the 50 degree indoor temps... it's uncomfortable but not necessarily life/limb threatening.

[Tiny]

Feb 1, 2019 9:48:43 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

edition.cnn.com/2019/01/31/weather/winter-weather-thursday-wxc/index.html

The bitter cold in Chicago has kept hospitals busy, with doctors at one facility during the brunt of an Arctic freeze treating 50 frostbite victims, including some people who may lose an arm or a leg.



"It's a horrific situation," says Dr. Stathis Poulakidas, the head of burn and wound care services at Cook County Health.

Poulakidas works at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital, a level 1 trauma center, that in a really bad year will see 150 cases of frostbite for the season. He said based on what he has seen thus far, this could be one of those years.

Half of the patients that came in over the past few days are homeless, while others had jobs that kept them out.

Poulakidas said they've seen "horrific injuries to feet and hands," some so severe that some victims may lose limbs.

Having a lot of emotions about this right now.

Yes,  I don't know what to do/how to solve the problem - especially with the homeless that have more complicated problems (they've been banned from shelters due to behavior or intoxication.  Or who just won't go.  )    Is incarceration the answer for some of the homeless?