On Friday last, an emergency field hospital was set up at the site of an underage disco in County Cork after several teenagers presented with severe alcohol intoxication and breathing difficulties. The night was billed as an alcohol-free event. Sean O’Rourke was joined by Dr Chris Luke, Consultant in Emergency Medicine at Cork University Hospital and Dr Jason van der Velde, the emergency physician who attended the scene.
Dr Luke described CUH’s emergency room as “congested” and “stretched to the pin” even before the calls for ambulances came in from the underage event, attended by an estimated 500 teenagers.
“We had teams down dealing with all sorts of other very ill people. We had people on trollies. And our observation ward was full. So, you can imagine the heartsink when I got reports from West Cork saying that there was a disco and that three ambulances had been reportedly dispatched. And that there was a possibility of half a dozen, a dozen, very ill teenagers coming in our direction.”
He commended Dr. van der Velde and the staff at the venue, as well as local Gardaí and “the citizenry in general” for taking care of most of the ill teenagers on-site, easing the potential influx to the hospital.
Dr. van der Velde described it as a “major incident”. He explained that there was a second location in North Cork that an ambulance had attended, involving the “same party”.
“A teenager had actually got onto the bus that intoxicated the bus driver felt he needed to phone an ambulance for them“.
Once at the scene, Dr. van der Velde co-ordinated with an ambulance that was already there treating a “completely unconscious” teenager. When Sean asked what condition the teenagers were in, Dr. van der Velde was clear.
“I’m not exaggerating when I say at least two of them had the potential to die on-scene that night. Their blood pressures were in the 70s...They were that unconscious they were unable to manage their own airways safely. We’re not talking about a little bit tipsy. We’re talking about absolutely, paralytically, unconsciously drunk…Two of them, as you know, we sent to CUH for prolonged critical care. I mean, they had to be looked after overnight by our nursing staff in Resus [the Resuscitation team]. That’s how serious we’re talking about.”
The night continued for Dr. van der Velde as he travelled in to Bandon town to assess several teenagers who were being held at the Garda station.
“A lot of kids who arrived on scene were not let in...They ended up starting fights. They ended up in the Garda cells. So, we had another scene as well to manage.”
Dr. van der Velde told Sean that, despite what happened last Friday, he believes social events for teenagers are important.
“Let’s be clear. We need these sorts of outlets for teenagers to express themselves, to enjoy themselves…hundreds of kids got into buses safely, got into a wonderful party, had a really good, safe time and got home safely. And let’s not detract from that. This is just a dozen kids who let the side down.”
Dr. Luke encouraged parents to be more aware of what their child might be planning on a night out.
“We have to go back to the parents and say, ‘Listen lads, can you try and get a grip here?’. Because nobody else can prevent this type of scenario other than the parent. So, if the child is scantily-clad going out into the winter night and they have a clinking rucksack, you have to ask yourself, ‘Is there a risk this youngster will end up in hospital?'”
Listen back to the whole segment on Today with Sean O’Rourke here.