Creatas/Thinkstock(CHICAGO) — One Chicago pediatric hospital is getting ready for an influx of intoxicated adolescents by running “teen tox” drills, also called “drunk drills” ahead of the music festival Lollapallooza.
The Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago typically sees a nine-fold increase in the number of intoxicated teens following the Lollapalooza music festival, according to Dr. Karen Mangold, pediatric emergency physician in the emergency department.
Mangold, who heads the simulation at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, said they decided last year to run drills so that medical staff would be ready to greet the influx of teens.
“They come in three or four ambulances at at time,” Mangold said of the intoxicated teens. “It’s about nine times the teen intoxication seen in the ER — way more than other drinking holidays, even more than St. Patrick’s Day or Halloween.”
She said that by running two drills it gives residents the know-how to get started on any sick teen and not wait for an attendee to arrive.
“The main thing we see patients for is [coming in] for intoxication,” said Mangold. “We also prepare for possible other drug ingestion.”
Mangold said they run two drills to prepare for the influx of teens under the influence. The first drill involves using an intern to impersonate a drunk teen, who is not responding and get in touch with the family. Then, a drill where they mimic the experience of treating a teen high on Ecstacy. In that drill they also cope with increased body temperature caused by the drug, which can wreak havoc during a summer concert.
Mangold said statistically they see more female teens than male teens and most patients come from out of town. She said concerned parents can take steps to keep an eye on their kids if they end up going to the concert and plan on staying with them in a hotel if they are visiting from out of town. She also said teens should put emergency contact on their entrance wristband or on an unlocked phone.
“If we have an unconscious kids, it’s really scary to not be able to get in touch with the parents,” she said.
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