Mass-Gathering Medicine with CrowdRx
By Joe Reinhartz
Pollstar featured the medical team CrowdRx approximately a year ago. Recently, we were offered the opportunity to visit the team onsite at Burning Man. Why not?
At Burning Man, CrowdRx had dedicated pilots to transport patients to Reno if needed, but it also had a healthcare system complete with emergency physicians, nurses, paramedics, X-Ray facilities, ultrasound, a medical laboratory, a pharmacy, and its own fleet of ambulances roaming the playa. The medical treatment and associated costs were paid for by Burning Man and included with the cost of the ticket. CrowdRx also touted that it was able to obtain for the first time in the event’s history a Nevada license for the facility and medical laboratory, “passing criteria to be officially recognized as an Independent Center for Emergency Care.”
The emergency care center was dubbed “Rampart” in honor of the TV show “Emergency!” but we didn’t see anybody yelling into Motorola radios. It was a pretty chill place, with visitors who were appreciative, talkative and whose needs were as routine as a stitch on a pinky finger to as severe as putting a femur in traction after a skydiving accident.
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Rolling Stone Discusses Music Festival Safety
Harm reduction groups are trying to prevent bad trips and medical emergencies – but will the law let them?
To reduce the potential harms of hyperthermia, Bazos says, on-site doctors administer cooling techniques found in hospital settings, which reduces the use of ambulances – a cost-saving and face-saving technique, given that, as he notes, local towns are unlikely to want their ERs overrun with festival-goers. “A lot of festivals are in rural locations and hospitals aren’t equipped by high volume,” he says. “Quicker care on site is much better for many conditions.”
The Metamorphosis of On-Site Medical Care
When you think about the glitz and glamour of any event or festival — regardless of whether it’s large or small —it is a safe bet that on-site emergency medical services wouldn’t be what pops into your mind first. Or even second. But providing the best possible medical care to those attending such festivities has become the life’s work of Dr. Andrew Bazos, Founder and Chairman of Philadelphia, PA-based CrowdRx.
“We want to continue to be the go-to name in on-site medical coverage in the future as we are now and grow even stronger. We want to continue to accumulate data and positive experiences across different venues and different festivals and have our policies and procedures refined so we can share them across the industry so that we can make safe experiences everywhere, whether we are directly involved or not,” Dr. Bazos said. “We are not a company that wants to have a secret formula. In medicine, we try to share good things that we discover with our colleagues. So, even if it means doing consulting at venues to help them make their area better, a safe show elsewhere helps the entire industry, which is what we want to see.”
See the article in LineupLive Magazine here!