The need for medical care up this year for weekend one Coachella Fest attendees

JFK Memorial Hospital is less than three miles away from the festival grounds.

We're learning more about the emergency room visits there during weekend one of Coachella.

Emergency Department Director Evelin Millsap says staff saw the same medical issues they've seen in previous years - including dehydration, heat related illnesses, and substance abuse.

But Millsap adds that total visits this year were around double - "We had a total of 54 patients that we saw in two departments. This year, our volume doubled by a hundred patients." She explains that a lack of nutrition, lack of hydration, and even overdoses of either drugs or alcohol abuse added to the increase in emergency room visits this time.