Denver Headlines Blog: Health experts advise precautions with heavy snow, dangerous cold

Monday, April 4, 2022

Health experts advise precautions with heavy snow, dangerous cold – ~ News

DENVER — The snow and cold continue to impact the Front Range into the evening hours on Wednesday. FOX31 crews found some Denver neighborhoods buried in about a foot of snow, including parts of Denver’s Central Park neighborhood, where official snowfall totals were tallied prior to 1995.

dr Tod Olin, a pulmonologist at National Jewish Health, braved the snow and cold on his bicycle Wednesday morning.

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“This is fun for me,” he said. “It’s not a drag.” Olin encountered plenty of snow-packed streets on his commute to work, but there was less traffic.

“As far as the commute goes, this is like the best day to commute, not the worst,” Olin said.

Common cold- and snow-related injuries

But many of us are not as skilled in these conditions as Olin.

dr Eric Hill, an emergency room physician at the Medical Center of Aurora, said vehicle collisions and falls are the types of cases most commonly seen at ER and urgent care settings.

“They commonly can have everything from minor injuries — more like sprains — to everything like hip fractures and shoulder fractures and dislocations,” Hill said.

But the cold itself is also an issue.

“You need to dress in several layers,” Hill said. “You need to have kind of loose clothing.”

Preserving body heat is a must to avoid hypothermia. That, along with frostbite, are concerns, especially for those who are unhoused.

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