Drew Brees partners with 'The Heat Factor' to raise awareness about risk of heat stroke

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is promoting a new educational program that he hopes will help save lives this summer.

The NFL veteran has teamed up with Dr. Neha Raukar and Eagle Pharmaceuticals to promote The Heat Factor -- a new program created to increase awareness about exertional heat stroke (EHS), which is one of the leading causes of teen athlete death.

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"Being an athlete and a father of four kids that are extremely active and love sports and love being outside, participating in sports, this is obviously something that is very important," Brees told AOL News on Thursday. "It deserves a level of awareness by parents, teachers, coaches and athletes, themselves. It's a serious heat-related illness that if we don't have a level of awareness for, it could increase the chances of causing some seriously bad things."

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Someone suffering from EHS will present signs and symptoms similar to a concussion. Someone may be "acting confused, disorientation, dizziness, even being agitated."

"Heat illness is a spectrum of injury," Dr. Raukar told AOL News. "So you can start with very mild cases of heat illness such as muscle cramping or just having a little headache or feeling thirsty."

However, Dr. Raukar warns that if mild symptoms go unnoticed, they can turn into serious health risks, targeting the central nervous system.

"People get faint, people get very dizzy, people start vomiting and this will progress if you continue working to confusion or being disoriented," Dr. Raukar said. "And sometimes, people just pass out and they go unconscious."

To help kids and adults remember the signs, symptoms and treatment, The Heat Factor created an acronym for HEAT. H stands for 'Heat,' E for 'Exercise or activity,' A for 'Acting confused' and T for 'Time to call 911.'

Watch Drew Brees discuss The Heat Factor on The View:

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