CrowdRX have already received 300 applications for the positions. 3 medical directors have been appointed. CrowdRX will have as many as 10 ambulances and 2 planes at the event “during peak times”, with one of the planes and a helicopter on standby.
From the Reno Gazette-Journal:
Although Burning Man outsourced medical support services management to a Pennsylvania-based company for this year’s event, the company intends to hire as many Silver State employees as it can.
Nevadan applicants who have experience working at the weeklong event in the Black Rock Desert will be considered before those who are inexperienced at Burning Man and are out-of-state, according to Andrew Bazos, CrowdRx board chairman…
CrowdRx’s blueprint for managing medical support services will be very similar to Humboldt General Hospital’s and the company likely will hire nearly 100 percent Nevadans that have worked the event before, according to Bazos.
Already, CrowdRx has hired three medical directors for this year’s event.
The three directors include: emergency medicine physician Dr. Jeffrey Westin, formerly of Las Vegas and recent Reno transplant; University of Nevada, Las Vegas Chairman of Emergency Medicine Dr. Dale Carrison; and Dr. Eric Salk, medical director for CrowdRx, of Connecticut.
CrowdRx needs experienced employees given the extreme conditions of the Black Rock Desert, its isolation and the unique layout and organization of the annual event, Bazos said.
“We’re not reinventing the wheel out there,” he said…
“The comprehensive medical operation requires a large number of temporary staff. Physicians, nurses, paramedics, EMTs and non-clinical support staff treat nearly 3,000 injured and ill event participants. Given the complexity of the medical operation at Burning Man, CrowdRx is currently recruiting potential employees to staff the 2015 event,” the website said.
Interesting that CrowdRX thinks they only need to deal with “nearly 3,000” patients, when according to BMOrg 6,100 patients required medical treatment last year. And this year is likely to be even bigger than last year.
CrowdRx is asking that only applicants with current unrestricted state licensure/certification apply.
Medical staff treated more than 6,100 patients in 2014, according to Burning Man’s 2014 Afterburn report. The majority of incidents involved people with minor injuries, such as scrapes and burns, as well as dehydration.
Note this, plane owners thinking about flying their own aircraft out there for a week:
CrowdRx will have a maximum of 10 ambulances and two airplanes on the playa during peak demand times, though one of the airplanes will be on-call at times.
A helicopter also will be on call, though it will not be on-site unless required because of the helicopter’s vulnerability to damage in such an extreme environment.
Shifts will be longer, but fewer. This is to prevent medical staff wandering off, and getting lost in the Carnival of Smoke and Mirrors.
One of the changes that medical staff will notice this year is that they will be working fewer, longer shifts, as opposed to more shifters for shorter periods of time.
“In the past, people have done a shift and wandered off,” Bazos said.
With longer shifts, staff will be able to work their shifts and then spend the remainder of the time enjoying the event without the concern about a quick return to their post.
BMOrg, as usual, have decided to be less than transparent:
Burning Man has decided not to discuss the rest of the contract in detail.
Burning Man officials in April said that the contract amount would likely be in the same ballpark as the $455,000 contract that it had with Humboldt General Hospital, according to the 2014 Afterburn Report provided by Burning Man. Burning Man officials also would not disclose the length of the contract with CrowdRx.
Read the full article at the Reno Gazette Journal.
Previous coverage of the changes to the Medical team from Burners.Me:
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I work for ESD and there were some changes in requirements to work this year, and there are going to be more ESD clinics this year. HGH did an awesome job, and really did provide hospital level care out on the Playa. Have not been following things closely, but the whole esd system out there is very well developed and serves many people with various needs. HGH was tasked with the very acute situations, but they were certainly not running the various clinics around the Playa, which care for many people, and triage people to the more acute setting, if necessary. This year, it also seems that BLM had many more requests and demands of BMORG, which appeared, to me, like a way to make themselves and the LE’s look more important. We will have to see how things go. I will certainly miss HGH.
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Discrepancy in total treated likely from First Aid/BLS treatment by volunteers from ESD, vs. higher acuity treated by contracted services (e.g. CrowdRx). I thought about applying to CrowdRx but also read thru Nevada’s temporary medical licencing application/ special event license application and decided it wasn’t worth the headache. Volunteering with the ESD this year. As a an Emergency Physician with 15 yrs of experience, it will be a bit of a paradigm shift. PS, I’m a burn virgin…looking forward to it.
Reading over issues encountered with crowd control, site control, and extrication issues…these are no different than Chicago or New York, or LA….except here there is no communication and transportation infrastructure to smooth out the process.
I for one hope that there are no playa deaths, but it is a universal truth that with bacchanalia comes acts of Darwinistic selection.
Glad you are making your contribution, Hope you have researched past injuries and deaths to see how the high desert is different from the high city.
BTW, rather than the gene pool adaptation suggested by Darwin, I refer to bacchanalia demise as operant- or self-selection, like operant conditioning. Rather than random chance and environment, it is a choice by the individual if they want to get out of the gene pool.
I have a few years experience with HGH at Burning Man, all of my licensure is up-to-date for Nevada. I never got a response to my application, nor did I get a response to my follow-up email requesting confirmation of my application. My co-workers from previous years have said the same.
I don’t quite get the “longer hours” theory, as I worked 6 days straight, 12 hours a day, and certainly wasn’t in the habit of “wandering off.”
You may be over-qualified, and might cause trouble. (Welcome to the club.)
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I hope the “medical directors” have NV burn experience, unless CT has changed a lot since the last time I drove through,
BM has depended on getting critical cases off the playa before they’re pronounced dead. This is going to put a dent in that. Perhaps 2015 will be the first year we get the real death toll.
Only those licensed in Nevada? Guess no volunteering at EMS this year.