BC 1974 09 09 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Statement of Robert L. Wall~ Director~ Cabarrus Memorial Hospital (Continued) Somewhere during the latter part of July, I learned that Dr. Lewis Curlee had agreed to serve as the medical advisor for the August Jam and he had requested that the hospital assist him in order- ing supplies, at his expense, for the field hospital at the speedway. We did assist Dr. Curlee in ordering supplies and have sent him a bill for those supplies, which amounted to: drugs - $1,028.38; and supplies - $883.16; total = $1,911.54 -- neither of which have been paid and are not included in our cost calculations. On Wednesday, July 31, 1974, I was subpoenaed to the Courthouse to testify before Judge Hal Walker regarding my knowledge of the hospital's role in the proposed August Jam and the problems it would create for this county. The purpose of this hearing was to determine whether an injunction could be ordered to prevent the August Jam at Charlotte Motor Speedway. After our first notification of the concert and realizing the magnitude of it, we began to make preparations at the hospital. We met with department heads on a number of occasions and discussed the role of each department that would be involved with the care of mass casualties. With the experience of the Love Valley Festival, it was obvious that a large drug overdose area would be necessary as well as facilities for first-aid and suturing of lacerations. It was my decision to implement the alut status of our Disaster Plan in the event we did receive an overwhelming number of casualties. We began to order supplies, such as IV solutions, disposable suture kits; breaking out our litters for overflow patients; designating overflow treatment area; scheduling overtime for nursing staff and other departments in the hospital; providing an emergency patient identification method, and many many other items that are a part of caring for a large number of people in a short period of time. We secured a police scanner for purposes of monitoring police and rescue frequencies in an attempt to obtain advance information so we could prepare ourselves to receive these patients. The implementation of the hospital's Disaster Plan is in itself an expensive and time-consuming process which involves every hospital department. A detailed cost analysis indicates that the hospital actually incurred expenses of $13,445.28 for the preparation and provision of services directly attributable to the August Jam. This cost analysis has been given to the hospital's attorney with a request that it be presented for payment to the proper authorities connected with the August Jam. We anticipated a large expenditure of money for providing medicalservices to this group of people and prior to the concert, our attorneys mailed a proper notice to the promoters of the August Jam requesting that they make provision for payment of services renedered to participants of the August Jam. To this date, we have nothing from the promoters. There were many cost items involving other agencies that could not be considered in the hospital'!S costs, and I would like to describe those for you at this time. We worked with the State Bureau of Investigation to obtain a current list of "street" drugs that we sould anticipate seeing at the hospital. We obtained additional law enforcement at the hospital from the Concord Police Department who supplied one regular officer and two auxiliary police officers during the two-day period. We obtained drug counselling services from the Piedmont Mental Health Complex (Concord Unit) and from the Youth Emergency Services in Kannapolis. The first patient at the hospital that we could directly associate with the August Jam was on July 21, 1974, 20 days prior to the concert. No other patient attributable to the August Jam was seen until Thursday, August 8, 1974. From that point in time, patients were seen regularly and with greater frequency up until Sunday, August 11, 1974. We saw a total of 138 patients from July 21 to August 11, 1974; however, for purposes of the presentations, I will give to you only those patients seen August 8, 9, 10, and 11. As you can see by the graph showing the number of patients by time, the peak periods occurred between 3 and 6 a.m. on August 10 and around 3 p.m. on August 10. The types of problems that were presented by the 137 patients were: drug overdoses or drug- related problems - 59 patients which constituted 43% of all patients seen; various types of lacerations - 41 patients - 30%; the remaining 37 patients were seen for a variety of problems, the most common of which were injuries of extremities from either accidents or acts of violence. This constituted the remaining 27% of the patients seen. The ages of the patients ranged from 14 to age 36 with the predominant age groupings of 17, 18, 19 and 20 years of age. There were 12 patients ~ unable to give their age because of their condition. State of residence is the next analysis, and of ~ the 137 patients seen in our Emergency Service, 51 were from N. C., 18 from Va., 11 from S.C., 8 from Georgia, 7 from N.Y., 6 from Illinois, 5 from Ind., 5 from Fla. Patients from 15 other states were seen, the farthest away being Alaska. Total charges made to these patients for outpatient and inpatient services was $7,539.33. Our records indicate that approximately $300 has been collected ., toward these charges at the present time. In retrospect, I believe we can say that the hospital was prepared for the August Jam. We were prepared for a larger number of patients;lit would have been a most difficult undertaking to have cared for any more patients that we had. The most difficult aspect of the patients that were treated was the length of time they needed care, from a few hours up to 18 hours, and the types of patients, namely drug overdoses. Had it not been for the Youth Emergency Services' assistance, our job would have been much more difficult~ During the course of the three days, we confiscated a large amount of marijuana and other illegal dm~gs, which were turned over to the State Bureau of Investigation.