Island EMS ready for plenty of blisters at Cavendish Beach festival

Island EMS isat the Cavendish Beach Music Festival this weekend to help treat festival-goers with issues such as dehydration, allergic reactions, nausea, vomiting and blisters from new cowboyboots.

"We give out hundreds of Band-Aids over the weekend. And, we do all kinds of things like covering up people's blisters from their brand new cowboy boots,"said Matthew Poole, an advanced care paramedic with Island EMS.

"So, if you count those kind of run-ins with people, we would deal with probably hundreds of people a day."

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Medical tent

At the festival, Island EMS staffs a medical tentwith 11 paramedics,two ambulances, and hascots and water available.

Poole said paramedics treat some people for drug-related issues, butthe tendency is to see more alcohol-related issues at the country music festival.

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Poolesays people shoulddrink plenty of water tostay hydrated, especially if the sun comes out because there isn't a lot of cover on the festival grounds.

He also recommends people have proper footwear so they don't have to "go home early because their feet are so sore."

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