HS football players treated for hypothermia
Fifteen High school football players from Plainview Old Bethpage JFK High School and Valley Stream Central High School were treated by Plainview Fire Department Emergency personnel at half time after developing hypothermia during the game at the Plainview school. (Oct. 29, 2011) Credit: Kevin Imm
Hypothermia overcame high school football players during at least two games in Nassau County on Saturday afternoon, sending several teenagers to the hospital, authorities said.
The cases involved players in Merrick and Plainview, said Craig Robinson of the Plainview fire department.
At a game at Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School, 15 players in the locker room began shivering, exhibiting heart troubles and "altered mental states" during halftime with Valley Stream Central High, authorities said.
"When they came in, they started shivering -- and that's pretty must the first sign that you're hypothermic," Robinson said Saturday night.
Five of the boys were treated at the scene in the 2 p.m. incident; 10 were brought to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow for treatment. It wasn't clear which teens were from which high school.
The game was canceled.
Details of the Merrick hypothermia cases weren't immediately available.
