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A report from South Carolina newspaper The State has revealed that swarms of drunk University of South Carolina have been overrunning the Palmetto Health Baptist hospital emergency room after Gamecocks game days all season, reportedly trying to “run away, fight people, pee in the corner.”
According to the report — which included interviews with four nurses and one Richland County Emergency Medical Technician — both the Palmetto Health Baptist hospital and the Richland County EMS agree that the number of students requiring medical treatment on game day is a “strain on resources.”
The nurses say that the drunk University of South Carolina students that are brought to the hospital “take away from other patients” and that some of them have been “violent.”
USC Dean of Students Mark Shook said that 161 students were taken to Palmetto Health Baptist for alcohol or drug-related reason last year.
via The State:
“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.”
Epps declined to say how many students are typically treated at the hospital during and after USC home games. Gamecock football games are just one of those events. The hospital also sees a spike in drunk USC students during Halloween, the first week of school and some holidays, several nurses told The State.
“Most of them are 18, 19 years old,” another nurse said. “One of them wasn’t even 18 years old.”
Nurses said they distinguish students from other patients through a few ways: resident mentors will follow them to the hospital to drop off a cab voucher for students, some have student IDs (or fake IDs), and during game day, students often wear Gamecocks apparel or paint their faces.
During at 2018 Gamecocks home game, at least 15 students were taken to Palmetto Health Baptist, which is the most common hospital for intoxicated USC students to be transported.
