JFK Memorial Hospital gears up for festival crowds

Festival season is underway with campers starting to arrive for 'Coachella Weekend 2' starting Thursday.

Those arrivals impact local hospitals, with tens of thousands of people coming into the desert to party.

JFK Memorial Hospital is less than three miles away from the Empire Polo grounds, making it the closest local hospital for festival goers. We had the chance to hear from physicians about how they prepare to care for the influx of visitors and residents.

"Coachella is a beast and it's not something that you should roll into unprepared," said Dr. Timothy Rupp, Chairman of JFK Memorial Hospital's Emergency Department.

During 'Weekend one of Coachella,' the Emergency Department JFK Memorial Hospital saw 54 total festival patients, a 36 percent drop from the year prior. 

"We're in the room with them are quite longer than the average patient doing procedures, doing tests, stabilizing them," added Dr. Rupp.

Overall JFK's Emergency Department saw less patients over the festival weekend. 

They cared for about 140 patients compared to the typical high season average where they see about 150 to 160 patients.

Yet Dr. Rupp says festival goers require higher levels of care. 

"Individuals who attend an event, like a music festival tend to be on agents that are more euphoric," said Dr. Rupp. "Things like amphetamines, MDMA, Molly. We do see some cocaine. We do see some hallucinogens. We do see mushrooms."

Many of these drugs do not show up on a routine drug screen. 

"Sometimes it gets so bad that IV fluid is not enough. We have to do some pretty heroic measures to keep their blood pressure and their heart rate where we need it. And quite a few of these people end up in the ICU," said Dr. Rupp.

Evelin Millsap, Director of the Emergency Department says her staff is equipped to provide life-saving measures for overdoses and poisonings, all while continuing to provide care for residents. 

"If you truly have an emergency and you feel that you need medical care, come, we're ready," said Millsap. "We actually overstaff during the festivals for that purpose alone, because we're anticipating our regular volume that we see for our residents, on top of the festival goers."

Physicians at JFK Emergency Department also shared the following tips for festival goers. 

"I don't think we can tell them to stop because they're going to do what they want to do, they're here to party," said Millsap. "I would just say do it responsibly and know your crowd. Don't take drugs from people that you don't know, or drinks."

Millsap also shared that on Monday they saw a total of 175 patients at the ER, a substantial increase compared to the festival weekend.  

They speculate residents may have avoided the ER during the festival weekend because they anticipated large crowds or didn't want to deal with traffic.

Again the staff at JFK wants to assure valley residents and festival goers alike they prepare all throughout festival season to provide timely care. 

Physicians also want to remind patients that the more they delay seeking medical aid, the worse their illnesses can get.