With all due respect to HARD Events, the stark difference between the attention that they and other promoters put into some aspects of their events can sometimes be clear as day. While there are parts of the experience like stage production that we don’t necessarily need the LA promoter to change, the reported problem with medical supplies makes us raise an eyebrow.
A commenter on Reddit explains his experience at HARD vs. EDC:
Man, that was bad. Last year I was a massive fan of the venue and lineup, and had a ton of fun. This year, not so much. The layout was absolutely awful, and the medical staff didn’t seem to be on par with what was needed. Let me put things into perspective about what EDC did versus what hard did medical wise:
All medics and EMTs carried a jump bag with supplies, and drugs. For instance, a drug called Versed can stop seizures (something that I saw quite often this weekend). NONE of the staff walking around had any drug boxes on them, as told to me by one of the medics who assessed a friend of mine. Also, at EDC we had 3 medical tents: Main medical, right medical, and left medical. Each place, had IV supplies, TONS of bags of fluid for us to give IVs and drugs, and other necessities. I would have people walk in to me, I would give them an IV, they feel better, and walk out and go enjoy the show. HARD ONLY had supplies at main medical, making the other medical tents virtually useless.
I usually don’t bitch about things like this, but I’ve never seen worse planning than this, and it frustrates me, especially since a lot of these heat related illnesses and sicknesses could have been avoided.
If these claims are true, it’s disappointing to see such little care put into the facilitation of medical help. This is especially because after years of holding events and knowing the risks and the stigma associated with them, this could be another fatal nail in the coffin of SoCal electronic events.
If you were around any medical area, please tell us your experience by commenting below or Tweeting us at @GlobalDanceElec.
Any major event, even concerts should have a medical chief who organizes that stuff, did they just throw money at it and say “good luck” ?
My cousin was feeling dehydrated and felt like she was going to pass out. so she went to one of the medical tents to see if they can help her. They did nothing. Didn’t even have water to give her. Said that they “ran out”. I’m sorry but how can it be called a medical tent if she just got turned away with no help?
My friend attended who got sick a day or two before the event. She didn’t want to miss it and waste the money, so she still decided to go, she just didn’t drink or do any drugs so her immune system wouldn’t be comprimised. She tried to stay hydrated and not stress her body too much, but Day 2 her fever spiked and she started getting a really bad migraine. I went to the medical tent to find some medication for her headache that wouldn’t interact with her cold medicine. I showed the nurse her medication and she gave me ibuprofen and told me to bring her to the tent so she could get free water and sit in the shade by a fan. So I brought her over to the tent, but by the time I got there the lady I had originally spoke to was busy, so I explained the situation to a different male nurse. He turned to her and started yelling at her, demanding that she “tell him the truth about what she took” even though she kept telling him she hasn’t taken anything but her cold medicine. He refused to let her in the tent until she told him the truth, before turning and me and yelling I my face “Tell me what your friend took right now or she’s going to die!” I snapped and told him that I’m not an idiot, I would tell him if she had taken something because I value her life more than that. After almost 5 minutes of making her stand in the almost 100 degrees heat, he finally let her in (but only her). I let her rest for about 20 minutes before going back to check on her. When I asked the guy if she was doing okay, he had no idea who I was or what I was talking about. I gave him her name and my phone with a picture from the previous day to find her because he refused to let me inside. He must have walked around the medical tent 4-5 times, each time coming back and saying “Yeah I can’t find her, I tried to match her outfit to the picture here and she’s not here. She must have left.” I told him over and over that she was wearing a different outfit, and he kept forgetting her name. After over 10 minutes and talking to 2 more nurses, someone finally let me inside. I walked 10 feet, looked right, and there she was sitting right there on the floor by herself looking worse. I ran over and asked if she was okay and why she wasn’t on a chair by the fans like she was supposed to be. She said they wouldn’t let her over there because if she “really was sick” she might be contagious. They literally took an actual sick person and made her sit on the dirty floor with no water, no fan, no help, and if I hadn’t forced myself in there she may have gotten worse with no one who even cared. There were two other people passed out on the floor near her covered in sheets looking like they were dead. We left immediately, but the next day she ended up being rushed to the emergency room because her flu escalated, she was extremely dehydrated with a fever of 103 degrees and her she was having trouble breathing. I can’t even imagine what would have happened if I hadn’t been able to get to her, or if she had ended up taking drugs and her collapsed. No one in that tent knew what they were doing and I am never going back to another Hard event because God forbid anything ever happen to me or my friends, I don’t trust those imbeciles to save us.