by Aidan Edelson, health and wellness reporter
Your first Virginia Tech game day can be an overwhelming experience. The Virginia Tech Rescue Squad shares advice on staying safe and responsible.
With football season finally here, new students have the chance to experience their first Virginia Tech game day. Whether it’s your first time on Center Street, at the tailgating lots, or at Lane Stadium, it can be a lot for first-timers.
Senior undergraduate student and Virginia Tech Rescue Squad Chief Alec DiLeonardo has been a part of the Rescue Squad since his freshman year. This has given him firsthand experience with health and safety concerns on and around game days.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
For a freshman experiencing their first game day, what are the biggest safety concerns they should be aware of?
For first game day of the year for freshmen, it’s an exciting time; you’re going out, you get to experience the Lane Stadium experience for the first time.
Some of the safety concerns that we, on a public safety side, want everyone to watch out for is obviously, a lot of people like to consume alcohol. We encourage you to be mindful, be smart, and to not overdo it.
Hokie Wellness actually has a really good web page called Party Positive. It has a whole page of things to consider, such as choosing if and what you drink, pace yourself, it’s not a race, eat before you drink, and make sure you designate a non-drinking driver.
So those are all things that we want people to take into account before they take a sip of alcohol. What could the potential consequences come of this if they are not responsible? This web page also talks about at what point it’s no longer just recreational drinking, and now we’re transitioning to alcohol poisoning, and when medical interventions need to take place.
If someone realizes their friend has had too much to drink, what is the safest next step?
So for us, where EMS and Rescue Squad intervene and where we get called for, on typical game days, weekends… it is a higher level of alcohol intoxication, so alcohol overdoses. Those usually are apparent if, say, your friend is now breathing abnormally. They’re breathing less than 10 times a minute. Those are things that we start to get concerned with, and where the alcohol has now transitioned from no longer just being an intoxicated state to now where medical interventions may need to be taken.
The biggest thing too is checking for pain responses. So give them a nice big old pinch right on the traps, right above your shoulder. Pinch them anywhere. If there’s no pain response, they don’t look up at you or speak to you after that, and they are fully unconscious; that’s when we encourage people to call 911.
Center Street is a big frenzy, and people are always excited to go there. That’s not our territory, but we do partner with Blacksburg Rescue and Blacksburg PD on that. Both of those agencies are staged at Center Street during the festivities. So if there is at any point where you feel a friend is either having a medical emergency or is showing signs of alcohol poisoning, find a police officer, find a rescue member, or just call 911.
Where should a student go if they start feeling sick or overwhelmed in Lane Stadium?
Kind of the same as if you have a friend, or you see someone in the stands or at Center Street, who’s exhibiting signs of unconsciousness, possible alcohol poisoning, or any medical emergencies that can pop up during these times. Find a police officer at any of the portals in the stadium, so the path out into the stands. There are always police officers there.
Come to one of our first-aid stations. They’re displayed on the scoreboard throughout the game. They are also indicated by the big red star or the cross over the doors. Any of our rescue members that are with Virginia Type Rescue will be in a high-vis vest. So either a lime green or a neon orange. That indicates that we’re EMS to people. Or, again, just call 911.
What mistakes do you see people making in their first few game days?
Overindulging or overintoxication is definitely one of the different things that we see. Some of it, too, is that they’re just not familiar with the area. So, getting lost, separating from their friends.
We always encourage you to stick together, whether you’re in a big group or not. Say you are in a group of 10, 15 people. Make sure there’s at least one or two people in there that you are always stuck with. One of the biggest things that we see is people coming to us solo. They don’t have any friends with them. Well, we need to find someone to release them with if they’re still in a certain state. In general, we encourage everyone to stick together. That’s for everyone’s safety as well.
With this new load-in procedure this year as well, when students enter the gates, pretty much whoever they’re standing with during load-in is who they’re going to be sitting next to. So when students are coming in through the portals to be seated into their seats, there’s actually going to be ushers putting them into rows, and whoever you’re sitting next to or standing next to going down the steps or going up the steps to your seat is who you are going to be stuck next to for the first half. Throughout the game, you can get a move around, but this is to help make load-in smoother and a lot safer for everyone as well.
What would you say to a freshman who’s afraid to get themselves or their friend in trouble by calling for medical help?
From an EMS side, this is something we deal with on a weekly, day-to-day basis. People are worried that they’re gonna get in trouble, and they won’t tell us stuff.
If your friend needs medical attention, call. We may ask you questions that may feel like you will get in trouble for. We are just trying to understand the full situation from an EMS side, how we can better treat that patient, your friend, if something has happened to them.
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