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Heat Exhaustion on Trek


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1 hour ago, Thinking said:

I don't know if the Church has official guidelines for pioneer treks.

https://www.abc4.com/news/top-stories/hundreds-suffer-from-heat-exhaustion-during-youth-pioneer-trek-activity/

I fear that sometimes leaders and participants want to closely recreate the pioneer conditions. Remember that a lot of Mormon pioneers died crossing the plains.

There are.  I wonder if some of this year's problem is that it stayed cool for so long, now the heat is hitting people who hadn't adjusted...or perhaps planned as well as they should have.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/youth/activities/bc/pdfs/stake/Handcart-Trek-Guidelines-June-2015.pdf?lang=eng.

Edited by Calm
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Lots of advice in a significant manual that is available to all online and leaders are supposed to follow.   But some are not well enough trained, and others think they are exempt from the issues or know it all.  (And every once in a while even well prepared and obedient leaders and teens encounter unusual conditions or do not have sufficient professional health and therefore have something come up.)

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Does look like not enough time to heat acclimate (besides lower than normal temperatures, use of air conditioning probably slows or prevents it), not sure how difference this unusual weather made given air conditioning, outside possibly messing up planning by them not taking higher heat into account. They should be cautious in higher heat no matter what.  That is a high number of problems meaning it is wasn’t a few out of shape or health compromised individuals taken out, but poor supervision.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/heat-acclimatization

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This one reads a bit differently, sounds more typical issue.

compare to original headline in thinking’s link:

”Hundreds suffer from heat exhaustion during youth Pioneer Trek activity”

as opposed to:

”Several members of a Latter-day Saint group participating in a pioneer trek suffered dehydration symptoms Friday, authorities said. 

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Several members of a Latter-day Saint group participating in a pioneer trek suffered dehydration symptoms Friday, authorities said.

According to Salt Lake City Fire Department Capt. Adam Archuleta, search and rescue crews responded to the This Is The Place Monument area to provide aid.

The group consists of approximately 360 youth ages 14 – 18 accompanied by adults, Archuleta said.

“They’re more than half way through their trek,” he said. “They’re just experiencing some heat-related issues. They’re still a ways off the trail head.”

“We’ve gone up and we’re re-hydrating some of them,” he added. “We’re providing shade. If there are any that have any significant heat-related issues, we’re bringing them down to treat them here.”

No injuries were reported.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/ksltv.com/416912/authorities-respond-after-church-group-on-pioneer-trek-suffers-dehydration/amp/

Edited by Calm
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8 hours ago, bluebell said:

I know that sometimes leaders can have trouble convincing the kids to drink enough water because the kids don't want to need to use the outdoor toilets more than completely necessary.  

I so understand that....I prefer convenient trees myself, but that large of a group.

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1 hour ago, Calm said:

I so understand that....I prefer convenient trees myself, but that large of a group.

And where they go on trek in Wyoming and Utah there usually aren’t any trees. Sagebrush are as good as you’ll get. 

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My 3 year old son freaked when all we could offer him on a drive to Texas was the car door and its body shielding him from passerbys.

Obviously we didn’t go on too many backpacking or camping trips with our kids (wasn’t a tradition for my husband and I was past backpacking like my family did once I started needed my princess and the pea mattresses to actually sleep). 

Thankfully my son got it with Scouts so he knows enough to take his family if he wants. Daughter...maybe the next life. 

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Four years ago, our stake's trek had unusually high temperatures and zero trees.  Dehydration and overheating were a serious issue, but the leaders were expecting problems and managed to head most of them off.

I just got back from this year's.  Our SP wanted a tough route (it was!) but really emphasized preparation.  In addition to encouraging exercise, they specifically told the kids to drink lots of water in the last few days before Trek so that they started out well-hydrated.  I talked with most of the other trek parents, and dehydration and overheating never came up as a problem.  Doesn't mean it didn't happen, but since "how are your kids doing" was the major topic of conversation, I think it's unlikely.

 

 

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why do they continue to do this..anywhere..any climate?  What is the point?  Surely there are better things to do with time and money that could provide as much spiritual experience than this..????  Just askin'

 

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1 hour ago, Jeanne said:

 

why do they continue to do this..anywhere..any climate?  What is the point?  Surely there are better things to do with time and money that could provide as much spiritual experience than this..????  Just askin'

 

Have you ever been on trek Jeanne (not being snarky, sincere question)?

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1 hour ago, Jeanne said:

 

why do they continue to do this..anywhere..any climate?  What is the point?  Surely there are better things to do with time and money that could provide as much spiritual experience than this..????  Just askin'

 

If the purpose was fun, would you be okay with it?

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The history around the hand cart migraiton was not all that positive.  It started out as a cost saving idea that BY came up with.  They Willey hand cart company started off way too late in the year. Responsible people knew this, but their objections were  overridden by church leaders, included BY.  Serious mistakes were made.  This is not something we should be celebrating without context.  Perhaps we could celebrate the bravery and commitment of the handcart company, but it needs to happen in the context of reality.  

I have a friend who is a stake high councilman.  He has a print of a painting depicting the Willey handcart company trudging through the snows of Wyoming. with invisible angels helping push the handcarts.  This is blaintent heart sell, and it makes me sick. Tell it as it was, and celebrate the will and faith of the survivors.   The truth is much more powerful than myth.

Edited by sunstoned
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5 hours ago, Jeanne said:

 

why do they continue to do this..anywhere..any climate?  What is the point?  Surely there are better things to do with time and money that could provide as much spiritual experience than this..????  Just askin'

 

Because we can. Shielding yourself from even minor elements of danger all your life due to safety concerns is the pathway to a hollow life. Our kids would be much safer without camps and high adventure and waterskiing trips and rappelling down rocks but who wants to live in that kind of fear?

38 minutes ago, sunstoned said:

The history around the hand cart migraiton was not all that positive.  It started out as a cost saving idea that BY came up with.  They Willey hand cart company started off way too late in the year. Responsible people knew this, but their objections were  overridden by church leaders, included BY.  Serious mistakes were made.  This is not something we should be celebrating without context.  Perhaps we could celebrate the bravery and commitment of the handcart company, but it needs to happen in the context of reality.  

I have a friend who is a stake high councilman.  He has a print of a painting depicting the Willey handcart company trudging through the snows of Wyoming. with invisible angels helping push the handcarts.  This is blaintent heart sell, and it makes me sick. Tell it as it was, and celebrate the will and faith of the survivors.   The truth is much more powerful than myth.

Dallin H. Oaks:

The Latter-day Saint men and women who settled these valleys of the mountains acted upon that principle. Judged in terms of the values and aspirations of the world, some pioneer enterprises were failures. The iron mission did not succeed in making significant quantities of iron. The cotton mission did not give the Utah Territory self-sufficiency in cotton production. Efforts to manufacture sugar did not achieve material success for forty years. The Perpetual Immigration Fund did not perpetuate itself because many immigrants were unable to pay their debt to it.

But, when measured against the eternal values of loyalty, cooperation, and consecration, some of the most conspicuous worldly failures are seen as the pioneer enterprisers’ greatest triumphs. Whatever their financial outcome, these enterprises called forth the sacrifices that molded pioneers into Saints and prepared Saints for exaltation. Unto God, “all things … are spiritual.” (D&C 29:34.)

In another great event in Mormon history, several hundred men marched from Ohio to give military relief to the persecuted Saints in Zion—western Missouri. But when the men of Zion’s Camp approached their intended destination, the Prophet Joseph Smith disbanded them. According to its ostensible purpose, the expedition was a failure. But most of the men who were to lead the Church for the next half-century, including those who would take the Saints across the plains and colonize the Intermountain West, came to know the Prophet Joseph and received their formative leadership training in the march of Zion’s Camp. As Elder Orson F. Whitney said of Zion’s Camp:
“The redemption of Zion is more than the purchase or recovery of lands, the building of cities, or even the founding of nations. It is the conquest of the heart, the subjugation of the soul, the sanctifying of the flesh, the purifying and ennobling of the passions.” (The Life of Heber C. Kimball, 2d ed., Salt Lake City: Stevens & Wallis, 1945, p. 65.)

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On 6/30/2019 at 12:44 AM, Traela said:

Four years ago, our stake's trek had unusually high temperatures and zero trees.  Dehydration and overheating were a serious issue, but the leaders were expecting problems and managed to head most of them off.

I just got back from this year's.  Our SP wanted a tough route (it was!) but really emphasized preparation.  In addition to encouraging exercise, they specifically told the kids to drink lots of water in the last few days before Trek so that they started out well-hydrated.  I talked with most of the other trek parents, and dehydration and overheating never came up as a problem.  Doesn't mean it didn't happen, but since "how are your kids doing" was the major topic of conversation, I think it's unlikely.

 

 

I went two years ago and we were also instructed to start drinking lots of water several days before trek.  We were also instructed to spend time outside starting several weeks before trek to acclimate to the heat and humidity.  I took a group of youth several times a week for a three mile hike in a nearby park before trek.  On trek we had lots of water and gatorade and we made the kids stop and get a drink even if they weren't thirsty.  We were trained how to spot early signs of dehydration so we watched the youth closely.  There was a full-time EMT that was on the trail the entire time.  Not a surprise when the few kids who didn't prepare had a harder time dealing with the heat.

YM camp this year?  two broken wrists, one sprained wrist, a broken collarbone, a gash on the face requiring 40 stitches, and a gash on a foot that also required stitches.  But all I heard was how much fun it was.  Weirdos.

 

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I was surprised that none of the youth complained about the historical inaccuracies with trek.  It seems to be an bigger issue with some adults.  I also didn't hear any complain about being manipulated into having spiritual experiences.  The youth with me had a great time and were very sad when it ended.  Sure, any additional safety precautions should be implemented if appropriate, but I think it would be a big mistake to discontinue trek.  I'm not a crier, but I almost lost it when a group of girls sprinted back down the hill during the YW pull to help some of the girls struggling to get to the top.

I saw one of my trek sons yesterday.  He recently got his mission call to Utah.  He struggles with anxieties, but said trek played an important role in helping him realize he can do difficult things.

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8 hours ago, sunstoned said:

I have a friend who is a stake high councilman.  He has a print of a painting depicting the Willey handcart company trudging through the snows of Wyoming. with invisible angels helping push the handcarts.  This is blaintent heart sell, and it makes me sick. Tell it as it was, and celebrate the will and faith of the survivors.   The truth is much more powerful than myth.

That painting is based off of one of the pioneer's personal experiences.  Are you saying that that pioneer was lying?  (trying to make sure I understand you correctly).

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10 hours ago, sunstoned said:

They Willey hand cart company started off way too late in the year. Responsible people knew this, but their objections were  overridden by church leaders, included BY.

I haven't heard of BY even knowing about the Willy handcart company until after they had left.  Just wondering where you read that BY knew about them and overrode objections?

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2 hours ago, webbles said:

I haven't heard of BY even knowing about the Willy handcart company until after they had left.  Just wondering where you read that BY knew about them and overrode objections?

Yes, that’s what I have read as well. The reason that BY did not have provisions waiting like usual was because he didn’t know any other companies were coming that year. 

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6 hours ago, gopher said:

YM camp this year?  two broken wrists, one sprained wrist, a broken collarbone, a gash on the face requiring 40 stitches, and a gash on a foot that also required stitches.  But all I heard was how much fun it was.  Weirdos.

That sounds fun for everyone but the leaders. ;) 

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20 hours ago, bluebell said:

Have you ever been on trek Jeanne (not being snarky, sincere question)?

No...sorry I haven't been around and online lately...but no...I never have.  I remember girl's camp in the 60's and testimony meetings there but never had treks.   We used to go to BYU for a few days in the summer months for classes/stuff...is that the same as EFY???  We never called it that.

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2 hours ago, Jeanne said:

No...sorry I haven't been around and online lately...but no...I never have.  I remember girl's camp in the 60's and testimony meetings there but never had treks.   We used to go to BYU for a few days in the summer months for classes/stuff...is that the same as EFY???  We never called it that.

I only asked because sometimes it's hard to see the value of something until you are a part of it or experience it for yourself.  

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