‘Help Squads’ deployed at three ‘extreme risk’ dance festivals
Health specialists will be deployed to each of the three “extreme risk” dance festivals this weekend as authorities brace for a wave of revellers risking their lives by taking drugs in high temperatures.
Health specialists will be deployed to each of the three “extreme risk” dance festivals this weekend as authorities brace for a wave of revellers risking their lives by taking drugs in high temperatures.
More than 90 medical staff will be posted at Sydney Olympic Park for the Hardcore Till I Die festival today, flanked by 140 police officers with drug sniffer dogs.
The extreme precautions follow the suspected drug deaths of five young festival patrons within months. To combat the heat Hardcore Till I Die has moved its start time from 2.30pm until 5pm and reduced its number of attendees by 1000.
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Electric Gardens will be held at Centennial Park today while Rolling Loud is on Sunday at Olympic Park.
A team of specialists — consisting of three critical care doctors, one paramedic and four critical care nurses — will be deployed to each festival to triage patients and make decisions on when to transfer someone to hospital. These teams will be in addition to several ambulance crews each festival must have on-site.
Meanwhile, police will be patrolling all three events and have the capacity to issue fines of up to $400 to those caught with drugs under a new trial.
AMA NSW President Dr Kean-Seng Lim yesterday expressed frustration that the festivals took up so many medical resources during extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, which he described as potentially being more deadly than a bushfire.
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