‘Stay hydrated’ is message ahead of summer heatwave
Tuesday 30th June 2009, 2:29PM BST.
HSSD is warning everyone to keep hydrated during the upcoming heatwave. Three-year-old Poppy Cochrane is pictured here with her heat-busting lolly, and mum Sarah Hoskins. (Picture by Tom Tardif, 0798202)
THE Health and Social Services Department has issued a warning to islanders to keep hydrated during the imminent hot weather.
Although Guernsey will escape the 32C heatwave that is predicted to hit south-east England today, Wednesday and Thursday will see temperatures reach about 26C.
An HSSD spokesman said it was important that people stayed hydrated by drinking cool, non-alcoholic drinks.
He also issued advice for the elderly. ‘Wearing light clothing, staying indoors and not being too energetic are good tips for older people when the sun is at its hottest.’
The spokesman said if older people did venture outside in the unusually high temperatures, it would be sensible to let someone know where they were going.
This weekend’s hot weather saw many people flock to the coast and beach kiosks saw a rise in business.
Beachgoer Jeanette Hoskins, 68, was out enjoying the sun at Cobo Bay with her daughter, Sarah, and granddaughter Poppy Cochrane, 3, yesterday.
‘The weather is absolutely delightful – we will be having a few barbecues before the nights drawn in. The beach is where it will be coolest, so this is where we will be heading,’ she said.
But Miss Hoskins was sceptical about how hot the week would be.
‘It’s never as hot as they say it is,’ she said.
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i had to get this off my chest, advice on how to stay hydrated and keep cool in the warm weather!is this the first time the sun has come out?no, stop treating me like an idiot HSSD. remember everyone in the winter wear a coat and hat to stay warm, really! if you go out and get in trouble in warm wearther then that’s darwin at work.
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It’s not that hot, and as usual for Guernsey not as hot as most of the UK
Why do that treat us as if we a stupid and need to be told how to deal with this. People either have common sense or not, so those with will be doing it anyway and those without will ignore it no matter what.
Too often States departments spend too much time stating the obvious instead of dealing with real issues.
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Fair point Nikkers….no need to treat the public like children, not to mention patronising the elderly. My grandfather was in Nigeria during World War II so I think he knows something about handling hot weather!
Such advice might be fair enough for a bunch of Guerns going on a trekking safari to Saudi Arabia but 26C in Guernsey is hardly a major heat wave!
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26 C is a normal day here,
and it has already been over 30 for at least 2 weeks this summer already……guess what I drank some water and the government didnt tell me to……..:)
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Absolutely agree with nikkers on this one.
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I absolutely agree with nikkers too.
Who is the gormless idiot “HSSD spokesman”?
I would love to know, that way I can direct some patronising remarks to him on how to live his life….
Is this really what we pay our civil servants to do??
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They are only making these crass statements so that someone dosen’t try to sue them for “not telling us” when they keel over in the heat. I didn’t bother reading the article, but did anyone warn against OVERhydrating, which leads to chemical and electrolyte imbalances in the body? Obviously we are talking about drinking pints and pints in a short length of time…..
Try being in London at the moment on the tube – surprised the ‘Elf n Safety brigade haven’t banned travel in general today! My daughter’s train was half an hour late yesterday as it had to go very very slowly because it was so hot!!!!
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I totally agree.
We should make the most of this weather while it lasts.
Im sure we all know when its too hot, its easy, we get thirsty so we have a drink!
But 26 C is pretty average.
Spain is much hotter and everyone seems to manage fine over there so i dont know why they are making a big fuss.
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for goodness sake, i didnt realise that when its hot, you put sun cream on and have a cold drink? i thought you get drink hot coco and put a wooly hat on!
seriosuly are these people actually in charge of something? like an actual department with real people in it? worrying! i wonder if they have signs around their building saying “inhale …. and exhale……inhale…..and exhale” just incase they forget?
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Before everyone gets so annoyed at the “crass statements” and “gormless HSSD spokesman” take a moment to think how the statement probably came about…
The Press approaches HSSD’s press liaison officer, and says “there’s a heatwave, and we’re writing an article today. What advice have HSSD got?”.
The press liaison officer thumbs through his list of contacts, and asks someone (maybe a physician, or the director of public health) for a comment.
This doctor has a bit of a think, and can’t really think of anything to say other than the obvious, i.e. drink something and don’t stay in the sun too long. So the doctor suggests this as a comment.
Press liaison officer passes on this anodyne comment to the Press.
It being a slow news day, the Press publishes this common-sense but not terribly interesting statement.
So don’t blame the poor old doctor who came up with the comment!
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James
So thundery showers were forecast for this morning, where was the “common-sense but not terribly interesting statement” from HSSD warning people to wear a raincoat to prevent their clothes from getting wet?
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