No major heat problems

Sung Ah Yim tries to keep cool while waiting to hit a shot on the fourth hole in the final round of the Farr Classic. Two dozen people were sent to the hospital for heat issues this week. The official high temperature yesterday in Toledo was 91 degrees.

The weekend heat in northwest Ohio didn't cause an abnormal amount of people to be treated for heat exhaustion at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic presented by Kroger, but MedCorp staff did send about two dozen people to the hospital over the course of the week.

Steve Memsic, the EMS director for MedCorp, which handled first aid at Highland Meadows, wasn't able to provide the number of people who the staff treated in their trailer, but he didn't feel it was a higher-than-usual total.

"Heat-related wise, everyone is keeping themselves well-hydrated," Memsic said. Yesterday, "we anticipated a lot more than what we've dealt with."

The MedCorp crew had 10 staffers, five "roaming first aid station" golf carts and a trailer stocked with first aid equipment. Their staff was all over the course, with carts at the sixth, eighth, 12th, and 14th holes as well as the trailer along the 17th fairway.

"We've been handing water out to people, making sure they stay hydrated," Becky Wilson of MedCorp said.

One of the two first-aid trailers on the grounds was out of commission because of mud surrounding it caused by the rain earlier in the week.

The crew helped young and old, spectators, and workers. Several Anthony Wayne High School students who were picking up trash around the course for an ecology class had to be treated for heat exhaustion.

"We have had quite a few heat-related issues, but not a lot of those have had to be transported to the hospital," Memsic said.

But the EMS crews said they were called much more for Band-Aids and mosquito-bite salve than for heat problems. One of their late-afternoon calls was to bring Benadryl to Se Ri Pak's caddie, who had just been stung by a bee.

The heat, in the 90s all day, made one golfer, Michelle Estill, ill. Estill felt sick as she started the back nine yesterday and threw up before she played hole 13. She was able to finish her round.

"I said, we're not going to quit now, we're on Sunday afternoon, and we're almost done," Estill said.

Contact Maureen Fulton at: mfulton@theblade.com or 419-724-6160.