So many drunk University of South Carolina students are being transported to the emergency room during home football games that stretchers line the hallways of Palmetto Health Baptist, emergency services are strained and drunken antics slow nurses who are trying to tend to the truly sick.
“They try to run away, fight people, pee in the corner,” said a nurse at Palmetto Health Baptist. “It’s been that way the whole time I’ve worked there.”
“We do get violent USC students,” another nurse at Palmetto Health Baptist said. “It just takes away from other patients.”
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For this story, The State interviewed four nurses and one Richland County Emergency Medical Technician under the condition their names not be used.
In the shadow of Williams-Brice Stadium Saturday, hundreds of college age women lined a wood fence with a “Female Entrance Only” gate. Behind the fence, thousands reveled prior to the Gamecock football team’s face off against Tennessee.
Two women hugged each other and stumbled around, spilling a red colored beverage from a red cup. A bottle of whiskey was on the ground a few feet from them. Boots, high heels and sandals trampled other solo cups, abandoned beer cans and emptied six pack holders.
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Both Palmetto Health Baptist and Richland County EMS acknowledged the number of students requiring medical treatment on game day is a strain on resources.
“There has been a pattern where intoxicated individuals are brought to the emergency departments at Palmetto Health hospitals before, during and after large community events where alcohol is consumed,” Palmetto Health spokeswoman Tammie Epps wrote in a statement. “Just like any large influx of patients, this places a strain on the emergency department, especially since many of these patients may not require medical treatment.”