Cold water immersion therapy is used by hospitals in the area and will now be used by Phoenix fire and paramedics personnel. is already baking the Southwest with triple-digit temperatures as firefighters in Phoenix — America's hottest big city — employ new tactics in hopes of saving more lives in a county that saw 645 heat-related deaths last year.
“Just last week we had a critical patient that we were able to bring back before we walked through the emergency room doors,” Prato said. “That's our goal — to improve patient survivability.” Excessive heat warnings were issued for Wednesday morning through Friday evening for parts of southern Nevada and Arizona, with highs expected to top 110 degrees Fahrenheit in Las Vegas and Phoenix. The unseasonably hot weather was expected to spread northward and make its way into parts of the Pacific Northwest by the weekend.
Cooling down patients long before they get to the emergency department could change the equation, he said.