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Texas Postal Worker Collapsed & Died While Delivering Mail In A Dangerous High Heat Environment
Texas Postal Worker Collapsed & Died While Delivering Mail In A Dangerous Environment With Record-High Temperatures
North Texas postal worker Eugene Gates Jr., 66, died on June 20 after he collapsed while delivering mail amid a dangerously high heat index, according to multiple reports — and now United States Postal Service (USPS) shifts in Texas will be starting earlier.
Postal workers said a flyer and alerts informed them their shifts would be moved to start at 7:30 in the morning, Fox 4 reported on Tuesday afternoon.
The heat index the day the worker died reached 115 degrees Fahrenheit, the highest recorded temperature in the Dallas-Fort Worth area since 1980, according to a local news outlet.
A homeowner rushed outside to perform CPR after Gates lost consciousness, but he was later pronounced dead at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. The cause of death has yet to be determined by the medical examiner.
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Gates served in the United States Army. He later traded his uniform for another life of service for the USPS, as noted in a statement
He was a member of Lone Star Branch 132 in the National Association of Letter Carriers. During his 36 years of delivering mail, Gates was “beloved by his colleagues and customers,” the statement added.
“America’s letter carriers often work in dangerous environments,” National Association of Letter Carriers President Brian L. Renfroe, based in Washington, D.C., said in a recent statement.
“The most important and immediate step that can be taken to protect anyone from the hazard of excessive heat is to learn as much as possible about this potentially life-threatening hazard — particularly the warning signs of heat illness,” he continued.
Some organizations, such as the World Health Organization, claim that climate change is causing steadily rising temperatures and increasing exposure to heat.
“Heat stroke can occur whenever one is exposed to excessive heat without protection, cooling measures or fluid and electrolyte repletion,” Carl Allamby, M.D., an emergency medicine physician at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio
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