(photo credit Kathy Suppes)
“It’s been a great Stampede. Wonderful weather”!
And with those words, Riley County EMS Director Larry Couchman reported that he and his staff experienced a relatively smooth Stampede weekend.
While the weather on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday was near ideal for the concert event, Couchman noted that “Thursday night, we had a brief storm come through”. The heavy rains and winds did cause some issues for the folks on site charged with keeping the Stampede healthy. The EMS tent had “some issues” during the storm, but Couchman noted that the rain was appreciated to help “knock down the dust” that can permeate the site.
While calls were plentiful on Friday and Saturday, the emergency medical staff received a well-deserved respite on the event’s final day. “From a patient standpoint…a good weekend”, said Couchman. “We did have a little busier Friday and Saturday” with calls about injuries attributed to heat and alcohol…a bad combination. But when Sunday rolled around, he reported that his staff did not have a single call or response all day. Sunday is normally the day when a large number of Stampeders with long distances to travel will get an early start on their journey’s home. But for the hard working men and women of both the Blue Township and Riley County EMS first responders, the quiet day Sunday was certainly appreciated.
Couchman will have final numbers on how many patients were treated and why later on Monday.
