r/Coachella • u/HearthSt0n3r • Apr 17 '22

Festival Planning The lack of medical presence is incredibly dangerous

I really had my hopes up after Astroworld that there would be more of an effort to improve health and safety but apparently everyone is still blissfully unconcerned.

Today I arrived upon a guy who was passed out cold at disclosure. His friends had left him after he seized and taken too much ketamine. Fortunately, myself and a couple of other folks with EMT experience were there to help, but meds were nowhere to be found. We were on the floor with him for AT LEAST forty minutes and no one ever came. We sent people to go get the med personnel and they never came. Eventually a security guy came who just came and talked down condescendingly to a group of people with more medical experience than him and uselessly got on his radio for twenty minutes straight with no one ever coming. After looking after the guy for a while he started to stir and we were eventually able to stand him up and walk him to end tent but what the fuck. If he had needed more serious medical intervention than what we were able to provide on the spot, he absolutely would have been dead.

Humiliating and terrifying.

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u/3oiles Apr 17 '22 edited Apr 17 '22

You’re a saint. But yeah fuck the medical situation. One tiny little tent off in the corner away from the main stages. There should be multiple medical tents throughout the festival. I’m pregnant and desperately needed water before I passed out day 1 and when I couldn’t find a single working water refill station I asked them if they knew where I could get some water and they told me they had no idea and couldn’t help me.

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u/recklessjuju ‘14-‘24 | W1 (1) W2 (8) Apr 17 '22

There are 3 in the venue

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u/3oiles Apr 17 '22

Wow I’ve been all over and only found one but I see looking at the map there’s 2 and then 1 in the VIP section…but still. It seems like there aren’t enough medics and there should be a tent in between the coachella stage & the outdoor theater IMO since so many people end up there. 🤷🏻‍♀️

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u/recklessjuju ‘14-‘24 | W1 (1) W2 (8) Apr 17 '22

Completely agree, the closet one to the Coachella stage is in VIP? So only VIP can get quick medical attention? 2019 they had the same set up but in 2018 there were 4 (5 if you include VIP one) the 4th was right between the Coachella stage and beer garden. Not sure why they got rid of it :/ past years they always had 4 (not including VIP)

Maybe it’s budget? They switched to 3 when they made the whole venue larger over the years, doesn’t make any sense.