PRMC ready for anything during National Folk Festival

Administrators at Peninsula Regional Medical Center for months have been working to answer one important question: How do we continue to operate the area’s largest hospital in the midst of the National Folk Festival?

Numerous meetings and discussions with city officials and hospital staff led to a plan that will allow staff and visitors access to parking, provide extra security around the campus and a way to deal with mass casualties in case of an emergency at the festival.

The festival, which opens Friday night and runs through Sunday, is expected to draw as many as 80,000 people to the downtown area. Salisbury will host the event for two more years, so whatever problems arise this weekend can be addressed in time for 2019 and 2020, said Roger Follebout, the hospital’s director of community relations.

“I think this will be a learning experience,” he said.

The hospital also is a sponsor of the National Folk Festival and will host a stage at the former Daily Times property on Carroll Street.

Staff members have been provided with information about where to park and what routes to avoid on their way to work, said Tom Anderson, PRMC’s executive director of Facilities and Properties.

Garage B off Vine Street near the Hanna Outpatient Center will be reserved for patients and visitors, while employees are being directed to park in a lot at Vine and Waverly Drive.

Garage A off of Carroll Street is being reserved for VIP parking for the festival and will have hospital officers posted out front.

Visitors and patients should enter the campus from the south off of Vine Street, Follebout said.

Officers also will be posted on the grounds and the perimeter, as well as on Carroll Street to assist with pedestrian crossings, said Bo Kennedy, chief of special police at PRMC.

Signs will be placed around campus to direct festival attendees away from hospital parking, he said.

The hospital also will have additional clinicians on duty all weekend to handle any emergencies that might arise with a large crowd in town.

Kennedy said he talked to hospitals in other cities that have hosted the National Folk Festival in the past to find out what to expect. Mostly, they treated festival-goers for minor ailments such as dehydration and fatigue.

“It hasn’t been a significant number of patients,” he said.

However, the hospital will be prepared if there is a serious event, Follebout said.

The PRMC emergency management team, which trains twice a year for mass casualties, will be on standby all weekend, but everyone hopes they won’t be needed, he said.

 “We’re asking people to be smart, be safe and have a good time,” Follebout said.

Twitter: @LizHolland5

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