Event medical planning guide

Find out who requires what

Start by asking whether anyone requires medical coverage for your event. A city or county permit, a venue contract, an insurer, a school district or a league may each have its own rules, and may specify a level of care or a deadline for paperwork. Ask for those requirements in writing where you can.

Requirements differ from place to place, and this guide cannot tell you what applies to your event. Your permit office or venue is the place to start. California's local EMS agencies oversee emergency medical services in their areas, so yours may also be able to tell you what it expects.

Describe the event honestly

A headcount alone says little. Published patient presentation rates at mass gatherings range from about 0.7 to 72 per 1,000 attendees, so the kind of event matters a great deal.⁴ It helps to know the following before you speak to any medical provider:

• Expected attendance at the busiest time, as well as the total
• Whether people are watching or taking part
• The ages of those attending, if the event draws a particular group
• Dates and hours, including setup and teardown if staff are covered
• Alcohol, contact sport, animals, or anything else unusual

Walk the site with an emergency in mind

Walk your site and imagine that someone has collapsed at the far end of it. How would help reach them? How would they get out? Crowds, fences, locked gates and soft ground can all slow things down, and it's far easier to deal with those beforehand.

• Where a medical tent would be easy to find and easy to reach
• Which gate an ambulance would use, and who holds the key
• The address and landmarks a caller would give to 911
• Lighting after dark
• Where phone or radio coverage is poor

Decide how 911 will be called

Everyone knows to call 911, but on the day it helps if your staff know who makes the call, what address to give and who will meet the ambulance at the gate. If you have medical staff on site, agree with them how they fit into that process. On-site care does not replace 911.

Plan for heat

In Madera, the average high in July is 96°F.³ For a summer event, think about shade, drinking water and the timing of the most strenuous activities, and decide in advance who can change the schedule if conditions become dangerous.

If your event involves hard physical effort, ask how heat illness would be handled. The National Athletic Trainers' Association states that when medical staff are on site, patients with exertional heat stroke should be cooled first and transported second.²

Know where your AEDs are

For every minute without CPR, survival from a witnessed ventricular fibrillation cardiac arrest falls by 7 to 10 percent.¹ Find out whether your venue has an AED, exactly where it is and who can get to it. Schools with interscholastic athletics have specific obligations under California law.¹⁰

Agree how people will communicate

Your event staff, security and medical team should know how to reach one another, and who is in charge if something serious happens. Radios or a shared phone list, a named contact for each group and a short briefing before the gates open can all help.

Ask about medical direction

The National Association of EMS Physicians recommends that a physician medical director take an active role in developing the medical plan for a mass gathering, and that care be at least commensurate with local standards.⁵ For larger or higher-risk events, it's a question worth raising early in planning.