With festival season in full swing, festival-goers are wise to stay hydrated and consume responsibly. Heat stroke and poisoning are among the most common paramedic interventions.
The type of intervention varies greatly depending on the weather and the type of event. “When it’s very hot, the number of interventions related to heat stroke, weakness, dizziness, will be very high,” explained Jean-Pierre Rouleau, spokesperson for Urgences-santé, the largest ambulance organization in Quebec that serves the Montreal and Laval region.
For more family-oriented festivals, medical attendance is more likely to be related to traumatic injuries or weakness, he said. Events that attract a younger crowd may be associated with more cases of poisoning.
For 2023, at the Osheaga festival — a large gathering held at Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal — there were about ten interventions made by ambulance attendants, including four cases requiring transport to hospital.
“It’s clear that alcohol and drugs are often present at this type of event. We always encourage people to consume responsibly, but unfortunately, yes, it does happen at certain events that Urgences-santé is called to intervene for cases of poisoning,” said Mr. Rouleau.
He advises festival-goers who consume alcohol or drugs to do so responsibly, starting with hydration. “Often, people who consume alcohol forget to rehydrate and it is often too late. Dizziness occurs, it can progress to drowsiness, or even loss of consciousness,” the spokesperson said.
Festival-goers need to listen to their bodies. “If people don’t feel good, [il ne faut] “Don’t wait, maybe ask someone on site for assistance precisely to prevent their condition from deteriorating,” warns Mr. Rouleau.
At the FrancoFolies, a French-language festival held in Montreal’s Quartier des spectacles, Urgences-santé reports about fifteen interventions in 2023 and eight interventions in 2024. Mr. Rouleau emphasizes, however, that a perimeter has been determined for this festival and that the data does not differentiate between a passerby crossing the quadrilateral or a worker in an office tower in this sector who would need emergency assistance.
The same goes for the Jazz Festival, with five paramedic interventions taking place so far. The festival ends on July 6. In 2023, about fifteen interventions took place within the determined quadrilateral.
Event organizers have their own first aid unit, Rouleau said. For example, the Jazz Festival hires a first aid team that will contact paramedics only if it is not meeting “the needs of the clientele, if there is an overflow, if it exceeds their capacity, or if there is an emergency situation.”
Patient access on site
When called to an emergency, paramedics must access a patient across a large site with no specific landmarks. “Clearly, patient access is a challenge during events, especially large gatherings,” Rouleau said.
An Urgences-santé team is also working to measure the impact of different events on the number of resources in order to ensure that anticipated needs do not have an impact on regular operations.
During a rescue, paramedics work with the first aid teams on site and try to determine a gathering point as precisely as possible to be able to provide assistance to victims. There are also tools such as a small vehicle that can be deployed at certain sites. This makes it easier to slip through a crowd.
Street closures are also a challenge for paramedics. They sometimes have to travel on foot over a longer distance to access a patient.
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