Event Medicine Team Serves Community

The City of Owensboro hosts several events each year with thousands of attendees. Inevitably, someone will require medical attention during one of these events. Until this spring, these attendees had no option but to be transported by ambulance to the emergency department or seek treatment at an urgent care center. 

That’s changed thanks to an initiative called Event Medicine from Owensboro Health. The team, functioning from standard operating procedures like an EMS crew, meets with the planning committee of city and county events to determine the needs. When patrons can receive basic medical care at the scene, they do not need to be transported, taking a burden off our already overwhelmed transporting EMS crews and preventing an unnecessary ED visit. The crews from Owensboro Fire Department and AMR that historically staff these events are pulled from other areas, potentially increasing the response time in some districts. 

Emergency Department Director Rhonda Bergstrom said the team was at the ROMP Bluegrass Music Festival each day last week. “We treated approximately 30 patients, had an additional 50 or so asking for items such as Bandaids,  ibuprofen and Tylenol, and another 75 or so — mostly kids — that needed their armbands cut off due to them being pulled too tight,” she said. “Most of our patients were treated due to trips, falls, etc., with the exception of Friday, when we treated several heat-related illnesses.”

This year, the event medicine team will only cover events that are sponsored by Owensboro Health, like Friday After 5, The Dust Bowl and the Owensboro Air Show. “Our team is delighted to be present at these events and provide on-site medical care,” Bergstrom said. “With each event, we are expanding our capabilities to be able to serve the community and look forward to growing our team to meet the needs.”

Owensboro Health Event Medicine provides advanced EMT and paramedic level emergency medical services and specially trained nurses as medical support for these large gatherings. 

The team has established event medicine policies and procedures to provide injury and illness care to event spectators. Specially trained EMTs and paramedics are in direct contact with physicians at Owensboro Health Emergency Department, offering everything required to make these events safe and successful. 

The benefit of having EMTs or paramedics on foot, either stationed in specific locations or constantly roving the event, quickens their response and ensures that medical care is always available. The team also provides an automated external defibrillator in the event of a sudden cardiac arrest at an event. 

The Event Medicine team supports Owensboro Health’s strategic imperatives of partnering with our communities, serving Individuals with excellence and driving growth and innovation.