PANAMA CITY — Paramedic Joslyn Connor recently worked a Spring Break shift in which 167 calls were dispatched for 911 ambulance service.
“That was pretty much no sleep for 24 hours,” she said. “It’s a rough business when it gets hot.”
Ambulances with lights on and sirens blaring have been traveling over the Hathaway Bridge on a regular basis, transporting Spring Break revelers who have been injured, over-imbibed or overdosed to Bay Medical Center and Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center.
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Mark Bowen, the director of emergency services for the county, told county commissioners Tuesday that 911 calls are up 9 percent this Spring Break compared to last year, and there has been a 7 percent increase in transports. County Commissioner Mike Thomas urged him to contact EMS services in other counties to see whether they can help with response during Spring Break.
Connor said paramedics that usually work in zones on the east side of the bridge are frequently being called out to the Beach to cover calls.
“As soon as all the Beach trucks get busy, which is every day, we’re going over there and running calls,” she said.
Connor said many of the calls involve spring breakers who have had too much to drink.
“There is always a lot of unresponsive kids,” she said. “We get them in the sand or in a stairwell in any hotel. They won’t know where they are at. We get a lot of altercations; that’s a big deal, a lot of fighting. We get a lot of nausea, vomiting.”
Getting through traffic and pedestrians to the people who need help can be quite a challenge, she said.
“It is extremely busy,” she said. “A lot of times we have to run lights and sirens back over to get somebody.”
Bay County EMS Shift Supervisor Eddie Kemp said they’ve tried to prepare for Spring Break as well as they can.
“We have seven, 24-hour trucks on the road, and then during this time of the year we’ll add what we call ‘float trucks,’ ” he said. “They’ll work 12-hour shifts. We’ll have sometimes three of those a day.”
Many of the Spring Break calls are alcohol-related, he said.
“We normally around 12 (p.m.) to 2 (p.m.) start seeing the call volume pick up out on the Beach,” he said. “I guess that’s when they (spring breakers) start getting around doing their thing, and then it’s just on from there. It could be an injury on the beach. It could be a water call, some type of trauma.”
Kemp said the EMS service has four ambulances stationed on the Beach.
“The rest of the area is covered by what we call ‘the east side trucks,’ and we have two, 24-hour trucks here,” he said. “And we have a float truck here, plus myself.”
Reinforcements: Ambulances parked in locations like Lynn Haven and Callaway are called out to the Beach if need be, Kemp said. “If all the trucks on the Beach are on calls, then we’ll start rotating other units out there from the east side,” he said.
A week ago, a dispatcher said over the police scanner that all ambulances were in use.
“That’s very possible,” Kemp said. “Then, either supervisor goes out or the fire department goes there initially as a first responder.”
Kemp said paramedics are well prepared to treat just about any injury or condition, and they dislike being labeled “ambulance drivers.” He said the back of the ambulances are like mini-emergency rooms, with equipment such as EKG machines to determine whether a person is having a heart attack. That information is hooked into hospitals.
“Doctors will take a quick look at it to confirm it,” he said. “With us, 80 percent of the time we go straight to the cath lab with that person, bypassing the ER. It saves time.”
He said they also have an assortment of medicines and intravenous medications. Many spring breakers are suffering from dehydration, Kemp said. “A lot of these visitors are not used to our weather here,” he said.
EMS parks a few ambulances during Spring Break in the “Triangle,” consisting of the area near Alvin’s Island, Club La Vela and Spinnaker Beach Club.
“We put two or three trucks plus a supervisor so we can respond immediately,” Kemp said. “You’re looking at 30-second response on times. On some of those calls as they leave, we’ll rotate others out to that area.
“A lot of that call volume becomes cancellations. They will say, ‘I don’t need you,’ and we just put them right back in that spot. Sometimes people at this time of year will call if they think something is wrong, and then we get there, and it’s like, ‘I didn’t call you.’ ”
Lawrence Smith is an EMS supervisor who works the Triangle. Smith, who was parked in the location on Wednesday afternoon, said the job poses risks to the responders.
“They have pulled I don’t know how many guns off of kids, knives and guns,” he said. “Do you see where that security guard is across the street there at La Vela? They don’t allow mopeds in there. A guy got mad so he pulled a gun on them. I was sitting right here.”
Smith said members of the 100-miler club — adults who live within 100 miles of the Beach — have come into town to prey on the spring breakers, and it’s increasing EMS call volume.
“It’s not fair to them (spring breakers). They usually get robbed — phones wallets and purses,” he said. “I probably will be here until 3:30 a.m.”
He said the Sheriff’s Office has trucks that transport spring breakers from the Beach to the ambulances in front of Club La Vela.
“They try to bring the patients to us,” he said. “When that parking lot gets slammed full and you have 5,000 people in there, it’s hard to get from where I’m sitting to the front door. It’s hard for us to get through there. Even with the lights on and with the siren beeping at them, they don’t move.”
Smith said the behavior of the Spring Break crowd gets worse every year, and it’s contributing to an increasing number of emergency calls.
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“I guess it’s a different mentality with the kids,” he said. “They don’t seem to respect police, fire or EMS at all. Now you have the odd group who understands what we deal with and they are real nice to us.”
The bottom line is that covering Spring Break has become more dangerous, not only for law enforcement but EMS, Smith said.
“We’re having to be more diligent taking care of each other,” he said. “It’s dangerous for everyone.”