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Description of the Public Safety Medical Response and Patient Encounters Within and During the Indianapolis (USA) Spring 2020 Civil Unrest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2024

Thomas P. Arkins ,
Mark Liao Open the ORCID record for Mark Liao [Opens in a new window] ,
Daniel O’Donnell ,
Nancy Glober ,
Gregory Faris ,
Elizabeth Weinstein ,
Michael W. Supples ,
Julia Vaizer ,
Benton R. Hunter  and
Thomas Lardaro Open the ORCID record for Thomas Lardaro [Opens in a new window]
Thomas P. Arkins
Affiliation:
Indianapolis Emergency Medical Services, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Mark Liao
Affiliation:
Indianapolis Emergency Medical Services, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA Department of Emergency Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Daniel O’Donnell
Affiliation:
Indianapolis Emergency Medical Services, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA Department of Emergency Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Nancy Glober
Affiliation:
Indianapolis Emergency Medical Services, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA Department of Emergency Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Gregory Faris
Affiliation:
Indianapolis Emergency Medical Services, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA Department of Emergency Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Elizabeth Weinstein
Affiliation:
Indianapolis Emergency Medical Services, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA Department of Emergency Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Michael W. Supples
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA
Julia Vaizer
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Benton R. Hunter
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Thomas Lardaro*
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
*
Correspondence: Thomas Lardaro, MD, MPH 720 Eskenazi Ave | FT 3 Indianapolis, Indiana 46202 USA E-mail: tlardaro@iu.edu
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Abstract

Objective:

This study describes the local Emergency Medical Services (EMS) response and patient encounters corresponding to the civil unrest occurring over a four-day period in Spring 2020 in Indianapolis, Indiana (USA).

Methods:

This study describes the non-conventional EMS response to civil unrest. The study included patients encountered by EMS in the area of the civil unrest occurring in Indianapolis, Indiana from May 29 through June 1, 2020. The area of civil unrest defined by Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department covered 15 blocks by 12 blocks (roughly 4.0 square miles) and included central Indianapolis. The study analyzed records and collected demographics, scene times, interventions, dispositions, EMS clinician narratives, transport destinations, and hospital course with outcomes from receiving hospitals for patients extracted from the area of civil unrest by EMS.

Results:

Twenty-nine patients were included with ages ranging from two to sixty-eight years. In total, EMS transported 72.4% (21 of 29) of the patients, with the remainder declining transport. Ballistic injuries from gun violence accounted for 10.3% (3 of 29) of injuries. Two additional fatalities from penetrating trauma occurred among patients without EMS contact within and during the civil unrest. Conditions not involving trauma occurred in 37.9% (11 of 29). Among transported patients, 33.3% (7 of 21) were admitted to the hospital and there was one fatality.

Conclusions:

While most EMS transports did not result in hospitalization, it is important to note that the majority of EMS calls did result in a transport. There was a substantial amount of non-traumatic patient encounters. Trauma in many of the encounters was relatively severe, and the findings imply the need for rapid extraction methods from dangerous areas to facilitate timely in-hospital stabilization.

Keywords

civil unrestEmergency Medical ServicesEMS

Information

Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , February 2024 , pp. 73 - 77
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine

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