Courtesy Event Medical Services
By Rachel Phillips
In 2014, a participant at the Red Hook Criterium bike race in New York City crashed into a metal barricade. Due to his broken ribs, the patient began to suffer respiratory problems. Fortunately, Event Medical Services of New York was onsite and able to provide basic life support and get the person in an ambulance in under three minutes.
A year later, after a full and speedy recovery, he was able to participate in that same race once again.
“If it had just been an ambulance, they couldn’t have gotten to him so fast inside the track like that,” said Travis Dunklee, owner and founder of Event Medical Services of New York, based in Lake George. “That’s where our motto ‘When seconds count, count on us’ comes from, because more often than not we’re there in 30 seconds.”
Upon realizing there was a gap in the market for affordable, proactive, and effective event medical services, Dunklee started his business in 2007 out of the desire to help his community.
Hiring an ambulance to attend large-group events is often a necessary precaution, but it can cost upward of $150 an hour. There’s also no guarantee the ambulance will stay on site if an emergency calls it away.
The providers of Event Medical Services of New York, however, will be present for the duration of the event, no matter what happens, and their services come at an affordable rate, said Dunklee. The staff is often the first line of defense before an ambulance is able to help.
