'Drunk Drills' Will Prepare Hospital For Lollapalooza

By Gwendolyn Purdom in News on Jul 21, 2016 3:37PM

Lollapalooza's sea of sweaty, flower-crowned, often-intoxicated concertgoers isn't just a nightmare for downtown traffic, or the lone first-time attendee who just wanted a quiet evening of Red Hot Chili Peppers jams—it's a nightmare for nearby emergency rooms.

During Lolla weekend last year, 88 intoxicated teenagers were treated at hospitals citywide, the Tribune reports, nearly nine times the average Chicago weekend. By comparison, only 23 teens were sent to hospitals for alcohol-related reasons last year during Halloween weekend.

At Lurie Children's Hospital in Streeterville, one of the closest medical centers to Grant Park, doctors and staff are well-versed in the kind of chaos the annual music festival can bring through their doors. In 2014, the hospital admitted at least 31 patients who'd been at Lolla, 26 of which had a blood alcohol level above .08 percent. Last year those numbers dropped but the hospital still saw more intoxicated patients than the next three busiest weekends of the year combined.

To prepare, Lurie's team has been conducting "drunk drills" ahead of the the festival's July 28 kick-off. Doctors and nurses go through the protocol of treating an intoxicated patient and what to expect—the vomiting, the dehydration (which could be amplified if this heat wave keeps up), the inevitable tears when parents are called (Lurie won't call the police on underage drinkers, but they do insist patients are picked up by their parents). Staff checks for any injuries, blood sugar levels, vital signs and other problems that can arise from the festival's sometimes dangerous combination of heat, alcohol and drugs without enough food or water. A hospital intern plays the part of the drunk patient during the exercises.

According to the festival website, Lolla will be staffed with public and private security and medical staff throughout the park. There will also be a medical tent set up at the corner of Jackson and Columbus drives.

While Lurie has found the majority of Lolla weekend patients in past years have been 16 to 18-year-old females from the suburbs, they never know exactly what to expect, so it's best to be ready for anything.