PARTY girls flashing the flesh in plunging temperatures risk freezing to

death, warn health experts.

Mum-of-two Elizabeth Hill, 33, fell victim to hypothermia walking home from a

pub.

She died soon after being found outside a church in Carluke, Lanarkshire, in

January 2010.

The St John Ambulance are battling to warn women of the dangers they face when

they go out in skimpy clothes.

Sun Woman was invited to shadow one of their teams as they tried to

persuade revellers to cover up.

And on the right are two true-life tales of how dressing to impress nearly

cost two young women their lives.

IT is a bitter night in Newcastle upon Tyne, with sleeting rain, an icy wind

and temperatures hovering around zero.

But if scantily clad Lucy Slater is feeling the chill, she isn’t admitting it.

Wearing just a bra and mini-skirt, the 20-year-old promotions model is one of

hundreds of girls braving the cold in very brief outfits.

Lucy is being paid to advertise the Koosday event at the Madame Koo bar but

the only payment for most of the other girls is admiring glances from lads.

Few seem aware of the potentially lethal risk they are taking.

The number of women treated for hypothermia is soaring each year. The

dangerous condition occurs when body temperature drops from a normal level

of 37°C to below 35°C.

Hypothermia can be difficult to spot in girls enjoying a night out because the

symptoms are so similar to drunkenness.

Joe Mulligan, First Aid Education boss for the Red Cross, says: “Alcohol

poisoning and hypothermia are very alike in the early stages. The key

symptoms of both are mental confusion and lack of coordination.

“This is why many people will have been admitted to hospital with alcohol

poisoning rather than hypothermia.

“It is virtually impossible to say exactly how many people suffer from

hypothermia but we know how often it happens to girls on nights out.

“It is very dangerous and can be deadly.”

Promo girl Lucy looks frozen but she insists: “When it comes to the cold it’s

mind over matter, isn’t it? I honestly don’t feel it.”

As we chat to other girls outside The Gate complex of bars and clubs, they

seem equally unaware of the hypothermia threat.

Jade Wilkinson, a dental nurse from Bedale, North Yorks, shivers in a backless

dress and bare legs as her friend has a cigarette.

Jade says: “I wouldn’t be seen dead in a coat, no matter how cold it was.

“Even when it was snowing last year I’d come out like this. You do get a bit

cold but you want to look your best, don’t you?

“Once you’ve had a few drinks you don’t feel it so much anyway.”

Worryingly, drinking alcohol can cause hypothermia sufferers to feel TOO HOT,

leading them to strip off even more.

The Sun’s Dr Carol Cooper said: “When you drink, the blood vessels on the

surface of your skin dilate. Your skin feels hot and you can feel flushed

and warm — and if you are already disorientated you start taking off layers.

But because your blood vessels are dilated, you lose heat even faster. You

feel warm but it’s the worst thing you can do.”

Birthday girl Sophie O’Brien, (second from left in pic, below right)

who is celebrating turning 18, is queueing outside a club in a flimsy pink

princess dress.

Sophie shrugs: “I’d never be worried about getting hypothermia — it’s not

something I’d think would happen to me.”

Around the corner, care worker Michelle Harrison, 26, has come outside for a

smoke — and is starting to look unwell.

She tells us she has fallen ill after a night out, shivering and shaking

despite thinking she was warm. She is stunned when the St John Ambulance

team tell her that these are classic symptoms of early hypothermia.

Volunteer Gary McCreadie takes Michelle’s temperature. After just

a few minutes outside, it has dropped to a borderline hypothermic 35°C.

Michelle says: “I thought that hypothermia was something you’d only get if you

were an explorer.

“But when you’re waiting for your mates or a taxi, you do get pretty cold.”

Asked if she will wrap up in future, she says: “Nah, if you’re going out,

less is best.”

Last night St John Ambulance spokesman Clive James said: “Everyone wants to

look their glamorous best but we urge women to consider taking warm clothing

with them.

“Looking good is never worth the risk of hypothermia and it is certainly not

worth enough to freeze to death.

“It can develop rapidly or gradually but if you can identify the early

symptoms, then use the right first aid treatment to address it, you can

prevent it developing to a dangerous level.



Case study: Kirsty Campbell, 20



A NIGHT out turned into a nightmare for Kirsty when she was rushed to

hospital suffering from hypothermia.

The promotions worker went out in her home town of Burnley, Lancs, with

friends in December 2010. She was wearing just a mini, a lace top and no

coat. As the temperature fell to -10°C, things took a turn for the worse.

Kirsty says:

“When I go out I like to feel and look good. To me, that equals not wearing

much.

BERNARD ASHTON 5

“That night I remember thinking how cold it was when I walked the ten yards

from my house to the taxi. The temperature didn’t worry me because I knew in

20 minutes I’d be in a warm bar.

“We went to several bars, ending up in a club and I went for a taxi alone at

2am. On the walk I shivered uncontrollably. It was bitterly cold. When I got

to the rank there was a long queue.

“I tried to keep warm by rubbing my arms up and down my body. After 20 minutes

I’d stopped shivering and didn’t feel as cold but I felt tired so I left my

place in the queue to sit down on a nearby bench.

“I felt really drowsy and closed my eyes but a passing couple disturbed me by

asking if I was OK.

“I mumbled I was fine and needed to sleep. The woman told me she was a nurse

and asked how long I’d been there. I told her about half an hour.

“She told her boyfriend they needed to get me to the hospital.

“They helped me up as I felt weak and explained to the people in the queue

they needed to get me help and we got into a taxi.

“The woman kept saying: “Don’t fall asleep.”

“At A&E a nurse took my temperature as my rescuer explained what had

happened. A blanket was put over my head and warm air was blown into it.

“She explained I had hypothermia and said I was very lucky as a few more

minutes outside and my body could have gone into complete shutdown. She said

I was freezing to death.

“It frightens me to think what might have happened if that couple hadn’t come

along. They saved my life. Now I make sure I wear a coat and book a taxi.”



Case study: Sophie Patrick, 22



SOPHIE knows how dangerous hypothermia can be.

At a friend’s birthday party last January, she spent the evening trying to

chat up a man while standing outside. But she was dressed to impress – in

very little. Sophie, a director of a sales website from Birmingham, says:

“It was snowing and into the minus degrees. I was on a night out with friends

and had made sure I wore a fur coat because I hate feeling cold.

“As a teenager I’d wear next to nothing and would be rolling about in the snow

at the end of the night but as I got older I became more sensible and this

night was no exception.

“The night was great and we ended up going back to a friend’s house. I had

drunk far too much.

“There was a boy I fancied at the party. He went outside, I followed him and

we got chatting on a bench. I’d left my coat inside so I just had a flimsy

top on but I didn’t feel that cold.

“I’d had so much to drink I felt immune to it. Plus all my attention was

focused on the boy. We ended up kissing. I don’t know how long we were there

but when he went in to get me a drink I suddenly felt poorly. My body ached

all over and I felt sick.

“I wasn’t cold, I just felt ill, as though a lie-down would sort me out. I

remember standing up and then I must have collapsed. Someone came outside

for a cigarette and found me sprawled in the garden so I was dragged inside.

“Luckily, there was a hospital consultant at the party and his partner was a

midwife.

“They checked me over and took my temperature with the thermometer she had in

her bag.

“I was conscious but felt very groggy. The consultant said I had hypothermia

and he warmed me up with loads of blankets and a hot drink. I remember him

saying: “Why didn’t you wear your coat?”

“I just shrugged. I didn’t think it would be a problem. I presumed that if I

didn’t feel cold I was OK.

“I woke up the next morning feeling rotten.

“The lad I’d been chatting up didn’t stay and I had no idea who he was, so

that was the end of that.

“I had an awful cold for a couple of weeks after that which I just couldn’t

shake off. I’ll never, ever make the same mistake.”

Download the free St John Ambulance First Aid iPhone app from the App

Store. For more first aid advice, visit redcross.org.uk/firstaid.