Northside Forsyth treats heat patients as holiday weekend nears

Northside Hospital Forsyth had already treated at least five heat-related patients as Forsyth County headed into a holiday weekend under a Heat Advisory. Across the Northside system, more than two dozen patients had been treated in recent days, and about half arrived by ambulance.

Dr. Douglas Olson II, the emergency department medical director at Northside Hospital Forsyth, called the timing especially worrying because families were moving into backyard cookouts, lake trips and long stretches outdoors. Alcohol can worsen dehydration, and older adults and young children are especially vulnerable when temperatures climb.

The National Weather Service had Forsyth County under a Heat Advisory through 8 p.m. Saturday, July 4, with heat index values around 100 to 105 degrees across North Georgia and highs in the mid-90s. In a county of 282,805 residents, 24.7% were under 18 and 13.3% were 65 or older, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

People can go from feeling merely uncomfortable to developing life-threatening heat stroke very quickly. Heat stroke can push body temperature to 106 degrees or higher within 10 to 15 minutes and can damage the brain and other vital organs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Once it begins, the illness can progress to multiple organ failure and death if cooling does not start fast.

At Northside, staff were treating suspected cases aggressively, using cooling pads and trying to bring a patient’s body temperature down within about 30 minutes. Northside Forsyth had set up a cooling tent for workers building a large addition on campus.

Northside Hospital Forsyth is a 407-bed hospital with 1,800 physicians and 4,600 employees. During a similar heat wave in 2025, Northside’s five-hospital system recorded a 20% increase in heat illness cases, including one death from extreme heatstroke.