Renaissance Festivals are general an adventure of one kind or another, but our visit to Georgia's version, which is held just few miles southwest of the perimeter turned out to be a completely different animal. My wife, my mother and I headed for the festival amid potential weather. I had been watching forecasts closely and was fairly confident that the rain would not spoil our day. With me traveling for the next two weekends, this would be our last chance to visit the festival before our tickets expired. What we didn't consider was that even if it didn't rain on us, the incoming storm fronts would dramatically raise the humidity. More on that later.
Traffic was a nightmare as it usually is at these types of events. At one point, Google maps was telling me it was going to take 35 minutes to travel 2.5 miles (I could easily walk faster than that). Eventually, we made our way into the parking area, which is nothing more than a cleared area of some rolling hills. There must have been ten or fifteen thousand cars parked across this large field. This festival wasn't nearly as busy when mom and I attended last year. I'm not sure if that was due to still being in thick of the pandemic or if today, everyone was thinking like we were and trying to beat the storm. Either way, we finally found a parking spot about as far from the entrance as possible and began making our way to the gates, a hike of over half-a-mile.
Once inside, we realized that we should get some water for mom, and for our selves and headed to one of the food lines. It's hot today. My phone indicated 89°, but with the very high humidity, it felt more like one hundred. We stationed mom in the shade next to some trees, while we waited in line nearby. Just a couple of minutes later, I saw mom fall. We were about ten yards away from here and I immediately dashed her direction. I wasn't sure if she had tripped on the roots or passed out from the heat. When I got to her just a couple of seconds later, she was back on her feet and complaining about it being very hot once again. A moment or two later, she passed out. Luckily, I was there to catch her this time. I lowered her to a seated position and leaned her back on me. My wife ran to get help from the on-site EMS crew. Several onlookers provided us with water and ice and began fanning mom with whatever they had available. She regained consciousness a couple of minutes later.
Soon after the EMT arrived and began examining her. I had already started treatment for heat exhaustion and he continued. We placed ice packs on the back of her neck and forehead and continued giving her water. Both the EMT and I agreed that she was suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration. We brought her to her feet and helped her to the first aid facility, which was air conditioned. It seems today's heat and humidity was causing a lot of similar cases. The facility was full of people with similar stories and the two-way radios shouted one situation after another, while we were in there getting mom cooled down. While they waited in the cool air, I went to get us some food. The lines were ridiculously long, but I was able to get some chicken strips and fries for us and return within thirty minutes or so. By this time, they were outside of the building and sitting in the shade at a picnic table just outside the area. We ate and continued keeping ice packs on mom.
With this situation, we felt it best to just head home. Maybe we would stop at a shop or two on the way out, but we were headed for the gates. Enough excitement for one day . . . or so we thought. We walked slowly and kept encouraging mom to drink water. After two hundred yards or so, she complained once again about being very hot. We got her seated in the shade at a glass-making booth and told her to rest for a couple of minutes. It wasn't long though, before she passed out once again. I was behind her and kept her from falling, but asked my wife to trade places with me and then I sprinted back for the first aid facility. As I ran through the crowd, I yelled "excuse me" and "coming through". Most people politely moved out of the way, but others were oblivious to the call and I brushed against them as I barreled my way to get help.
The same EMT returned and checked her blood pressure, which was very low. She had come back around while I was gone and soon vomited soon after I returned with help. We performed the same steps to cool her down, but this time, the brought a golf cart to transport her back to the air conditioning. We sat there for a while while they monitored her blood pressure. When it returned to normal, we began discussing our options. They could call an ambulance, but we weren't sure it was necessary. After some debate, I asked if I could somehow drive back to this area and just pick her up here instead of making her walk the required mile to the car. They were in agreement that this was the best course of action.
It took a few minutes to first get through the crowd, then walk the half-mile to the car, and then finally to get through the vehicle traffic and get turned around to go through the employee entrance and get to the back of the first aid facility. When I arrived, we loaded mom into the back seat and my wife chose to sit in back with her to continue monitoring her. The ride home was uneventful and once we got home, we loaded mom up with electrolyte-rich drinks. She seems to be okay. We had a similar event a couple of weeks ago and her doctor confirmed dehydration, which means she is developing a pattern. We'll have to be more mindful of taking her to events on these hot and humid days from now on. As for the festival, we really didn't get to see or enjoy much of it, but I am very thankful for the EMT's who were working tirelessly to care for the people in need.
No comments:
Post a Comment