Hypothermia Recap and Resources

Michael West, one of my favorite senior residents (back when he was a PGY-4), wrote an incredible review article on the management of hypothermia with a particular focus on severe hypothermia with and without a pulse. I regularly find myself going back to this article in preparation for the Winter months, and I suggest you do the same:

CHILL OUT, BRO!: ED Management of Hypothermia^​1​

But what happens when you’ve completed your workup and warmed a patient back up to normothermic and they are ready to be discharged? Are there any resources available for our patients who are undomiciled? This depends on the outside temperature/conditions – in DC the Department of Human Services (DHS), in collaboration with the District of Columbia Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA) enacts a “Cold Emergency Alert/Plan”^​2​. This plan goes into effect when either:

• Temperature and windchill combined are 15°F or lower
• Temperature and windchill combined are 20°F or lower with accompanying meteorological event such as snow

Based on prior weather data, DC’s temperatures can reach 20°F (though they rarely dip below that) – when this happens the Cold Emergency Alert/Plan enacts the following:

• Open/Access to Low-Barrier, Hypothermia, and Overflow Emergency Shelters
• Access to Overnight Warming Sites (usually 1900-0700)
• Transportation to these shelters/sites via the DC Shelter Hotline: (202) 399-7093 or 311 (Include the time, the address or location of the sighting, and a description of the person’s appearance)

Finally, here is a list from the DC DOH website of the low-barrier emergency shelters (feel free to copy and paste into your discharge instructions):

Shelters for Women

• Adams Place Day Center at 2210 Adams Place NE
• Community for Creative Non-violence (CCNV) at 425 2nd Street NW
• Sherwood Recreation Center at 640 10th Street NE
• Harriet Tubman Shelter at 1900 Massachusetts Avenue SE #27

• St. Josephine Bahkita at 6010 Georgia Avenue NW
• Patricia Handy Place for Women at 1009 11th Street NW

Shelters for Men

• Community for Creative Non-violence (CCNV) at 425 2nd Street NW
• Church of Epiphany at 1317 G Street NW
• Salvation Army at 3335 Sherman Avenue NW
• 801 East Shelter at 2722 Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue SE
• Adams Place Shelter at 2210 Adams Place NE

• New York Avenue Shelter at 1355-57 New York Avenue NE
• Patricia Handy Legacy at 810 5th Street NW
• Trinidad Recreation Center at 1310 Childress Street SE

Shelter for LGBTQ+

• Living Life Alternative at 400 50th Street SE

Youth Hypothermia Sites (ages 18-24)

• Safe Haven at 4900 Quarles Street SE
• SHINE (LGBTQ+) at 4904 Quarles Street NE
• The Sanctuary at 511 Mellon Street SE

Cite this post: Arman Hussain. “Hypothermia Recap and Resources”. GW EM Blog. 11/1/2023. Available at: https://gwemblog.com/hypothermia-resources.

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