EMS prepared to giddy up

Creativity needed to treat patients quickly during Calgary Stampede Parade

For a few brief hours every July, Calgary’s downtown core becomes Alberta’s third-largest city with more than 300,000 folks attending the annual Calgary Stampede Parade.

And just in case any of those folks needed medical attention, a team of emergency medical services staff from Alberta Health Services was there, as well.

More than 50 EMS staff worked the parade on July 9, using a variety of vehicles to steer their way through the dense gathering: six ambulances, roving quads, a golf cart and mountain bikes. All units were staffed and equipped to provide advanced life support (ALS).
“Our usual ambulance vehicles may have difficulty accessing a patient in large public gatherings,” says Darren Sandbeck, executive director of EMS for Alberta Health Services’ Central and Calgary zones. “We needed to be creative in our techniques so that we can both get to patients quickly as well as transport them back to our medical tents quickly, if necessary.”

In addition to the mobile resources, a fully equipped mini-hospital was set up for the parade, complete with air conditioning, an emergency-room physician and 12 paramedics. In addition to the triage hub, there was a minor treatment tent with capacity for 12 chairs and a major treatment tent with 10 stretchers. The major treatment tent was fully equipped with intravenous, oxygen and cardiac monitoring.

“The idea was to provide as much on-site medical care as possible so patients won’t require transport to an emergency department,” says Stuart Brideaux, public education officer with EMS in Calgary. “But clearly if they require further in-hospital assessment, EMS was immediately ready to transport them without delay.”

In total, EMS staff treated and released 24 patients during the parade: 22 had heat-related illness and two others minor, soft-tissue injuries.

“Without EMS resources on the ground, these patients likely would have been treated in a traditional emergency department,” says Brideaux. “Preparedness for large-scale events like this allows us to minimize the impact of other health resources.”

Meanwhile, other AHS staff and facilities embraced Stampede Week.

Over at the Alberta Children’s Hospital, patients and families were treated to a smaller version of the Stampede Parade on July 8 — one day before the main parade.

The smaller parade, which allowed those who couldn’t attend the Stampede to partake in the festivities, ran outside along the hospital’s driveways, underneath sunny skies.