SAN DIEGO, Calif. — The heat wave that’s hitting San Diego County is causing some people to fall ill and need medical help.
“We’re seeing more sunburns at urgent care. I’m seeing a lot more swimmer’s ear to the point I have to put little ear wicks in them,” said Dr. Vi Thuy Nguyen, a Kaiser Permanente pediatrician who works near the San Diego – Mexico border.
Nguyen said in the last couple of weeks she’s treated four young athletes who’ve gotten rhabdomyolysis, the breakdown of muscle that can cause serious kidney damage as muscle lands in the kidneys.
“It’s not like a huge wave of patients coming in, but we’ve definitely noticed an increase.”
She said other patients are coming in with migraine headaches due to dehydration and rashes from sweat.
A new report from Virginia Commonwealth University and the Center for American Progress estimates extreme heat is costing Americans $1 billion every summer in health care costs.
"The authors estimate that extreme heat is associated with about 200,000 more emergency department visits nationwide each summer and about 56,000 hospital admissions each summer,” said Emily Gee, senior vice president for inclusive growth with the Center for American Progress.
In an interview from Washington Thursday, Gee said lower-income Americans are among the hardest being hit.
“Places all across the country that don't, aren’t, used to this kind of heat or having to deal with it and people who are, you know, low income or live in neighborhoods that don't have tree cover are more vulnerable to the effects of extreme heat.”
The researchers looked at healthcare data in Virginia and then extrapolated it nationally to come up with the $1 billion estimate.
