The young man opens the door to the car he has been sitting in for the past 15 minutes. The temperature gauge in the car reads 102 degrees even though the sun is covered by a cluster of clouds.
Beads of sweat are dripping from his forehead as he grabs the nearest water bottle and takes a few chugs before addressing his audience.
"It's a little hot in there," said Dr. Steve Swearingen, as he puts his hand over his racing heart. "I'm a little woozy and my mouth is a little dry."
Swearingen, an emergency medicine physician at Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center in Daytona Beach, took the time out of his Thursday morning to sit in a car without the air on and no windows cracked to demonstrate the effects a hot car has on the human body.
"Heatstroke is more common during these summer months – April through September," Swearingen said. "We monitored my vital signs heart rate, blood pressure, respiration and oxygen saturation."
When Swearingen first got into the car his heart rate was 87 BPM, when he got out 15 minutes later it was at 105 BPM. This is a drastic increase for someone who is sitting still. The average resting heart rate for an adult is between 50 and 100 BPM.
"I could definitely feel my heart beating fast," Swearingen said. "My blood pressure was up and down because I kept moving my arm."
Swearingen was lucky because clouds covered up the sun, which made the car rise from 99 degrees at the start to only 102 degrees by the end of the 15 minutes. The outside temperature was 85 degrees.
"Thanks to the clouds, I honestly wouldn't have made it the full 15 minutes if the sun had been out," Swearingen said. "During the dry run earlier this week, with the sun out, the car got to 116 degrees in just 10 minutes."
In Florida it is illegal to leave a child unattended in a hot car for more than 16 minutes.
"If you see it, call 9-1-1," Swearingen said. "Try to get in that car to get them out and call 9-1-1."
According to NoHeatStroke.org, last year there were 42 pediatric vehicular heatstroke deaths in the United States. There have already been seven reported this year.
"Children's thermoregulatory systems don't work as well as adults so they can show signs of heat stroke or heat exhaustion three times faster," Swearingen said. "The changes in my vital signs over the course of 10 minutes can happen to a child in just two minutes."
When body temperature reaches 107 degrees, cells start to die and organs begin to fail. Symptoms of heatstroke in adults and children who are trapped in a hot car include dry and flushed skin, fast heart rate, confusion, hallucinations, seizures or loss of consciousness. In extreme cases death can occur.
"The dashboard and steering wheel can reach up to 180 to 200 degrees and that contributes to the car heating up faster," Swearingen said while in the car. "My lips are dry and it's getting a little harder to speak to you guys."
How can parents forget their kids in the car? The answer is simple, according to John Fleemin, executive appointee of the Deltona Fire Fighters Foundation.
"Many people just get busy, they have a full plate, they lose focus and they don't pay attention to what they are doing" Fleemin said. "They forget they have the responsibility of another life in their hand."
Fleemin recommends that people slow down, collect themselves and do a vehicle inspection when they get where they are going.
"Maybe put your purse, your phone or your wallet in the backseat when you drive," Swearingen said. "These are things you are more likely to remember to take out of the car with you and you can remember that your child is in the car."
According to Fleemin, the elderly, depending on their medical condition, can have the same rate of deterioration in the heat as children.
"Cracking a window doesn't do much to alleviate the temperature either," Fleemin said stating that pets also suffer from being left in hot cars. "It's a different kind of overheating then just being outside in the sun."
For anyone that has been stuck in a hot car and are showing signs of a heat stroke, Fleemin recommends that they have an EMS or someone from the fire department give them an evaluation so that they can check their vital signs.
"Take the recommendation of the EMS crew on scene," Fleemin said. "Then take the child to their pediatrician or to an emergency facility as a precaution."
Fleemin works with the Deltona Fire Department to put together presentations, like the one done at Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center, at community events, health fairs and back to school events.
"We have a city vehicle and a digital car thermometer with a large display," Fleemin said. "We want people to understand that it does not take a lot of time for the temperature to increase."
For information on the Deltona Fire Department's presentations, visit iafflocal2913.org.