Heat-Related Illnesses of Summer

"At first signs of any heat illness in children, parents should encourage their children to slow down, and/or seek a cooler, shaded area. Although there is an association with heat and dehydration, the initial and subsequent treatments for heat illness is not to rehydrate, it is to cool the body down quickly. Don't pour the cool water in you, pour it on you!" says Dr. Devine. "In the case of severe heat illness, you cannot cool the body too rapidly. The best options are to bring the heat-ill youngster to a shaded, cool area and optimize cooling by either evaporation (cool-water mist or ice, with a fan) or heat conduction from the body into the ice-cool or cool waters of a shallow wading pool," he says.