DALLAS — As North Texas residents continue to deal with scorching hot temperatures, a local medical agency and state energy organization are also dealing with an increase in their respective workloads.
The administrative governmental organization MedStar Mobile Healthcare said the agency took 325 heat-related calls from May 1 to Aug. 5 of last year. During that same time frame this year, they've taken 682, a 109.8% increase.
Of the calls from 2022, 119 have been considered serious and 28 have been critical.
Brian White is the assistant operations manager for MedStar, mainly dealing with day-to-day operations. He said he can't emphasize enough the need to drink water before going outside.
"That way your body is well hydrated," White said. "You're ahead of the game, already. And then while you're out there, it really behooves you to listen to your body."
As of Friday, the North Texas area had seen 41 100-degree days, with many more triple-digit days left in August.
"A lot of people say, 'Let's push through it,'" White said. "Not a good idea. That's your body telling you, 'Hey, I'm getting overheated here.'"
He said the best thing to do when you start to get a headache or aches in your muscles while outside is to calm down, get out of the heat and get some water.
"Whenever you're working outside, it's really easy to get sidetracked and not drink enough water, especially if you're sweating it all off," White said.
ERCOT allows you to monitor real-time grid conditions. To check that out, you can click here.