It was a sweltering hot weekend in May at what could be the concert of an era in Gainesville. Boots were stomping, hands were clapping and beers were going down smooth among concertgoers both inside and outside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
The Swamp was a two-day stop on country music superstar Morgan Wallen’s “Still the Problem” tour on May 15 and 16. The music ended a month ago, but medical professionals say heat-related health concerns will only return stronger with football season.
The weather for the weekend concerts was forecast to be hot and humid, with highs in the low 90s.
Over the two-day concert series, roughly a dozen people were admitted to the emergency room for dehydration, heat exhaustion and alcohol overconsumption, said Frania Louis, a UF Health Shands ER patient access specialist.
While, scientifically, there is water in beer — the beverage of choice during Wallen’s stop at The Swamp — there’s not enough to rehydrate fans in need of medical attention during the weekend performances, Louis said.
Barbara Wamsley, a 56-year-old Daytona Beach resident, visited both the stadium’s first aid and UF Shands during the concert.
“I had no idea the heat would get to me like that,” Wamsley said. “I am outside all the time. I had to talk myself into having a beer, and that’s unheard of at a concert for me. I ended up settling for water and Gatorade.”
Ambulances and gurneys lined Gale Lemerand Drive, supporting guests both conscious and unconscious upon the concert's conclusion. The first aid building on the stadium’s ground floor saw an influx of country music fans visiting from as far as North Carolina, Wamsley said.
Upon Wamsley's arrival, medics administered Gatorades, ice packs, vomit bags and pain medication in efforts to give patrons quick relief so they wouldn’t miss a beat from Wallen’s drummer.
Wamsley also said the staff at UF Shands questioned the friends and family of admitted concertgoers to determine whether they were intoxicated.
Some fans simply needed a little air conditioning and a moment to regroup, while others needed ambulance rides, IV fluids and more advanced care at UF Health Shands Hospital on Archer Road.
Considering the heat and hydration issues the bustling concert brought, the question arises as to whether these will worsen during football season, which kicks off in August.
To Louis, the answer is yes.
The influx of heat-related patients isn't limited to concerts. Louis said football game days regularly bring similar cases to the hospital.
“Once we see them coming in their Gator shirts, we already know what’s happened,” Louis said.
According to the Florida Gators’ game day hydration and cooling initiatives website, guests are allowed to bring one empty, commercially branded 20-ounce water bottle.
A dozen water bottle filling stations and other public water fountains are scattered around Ben Hill Griffin. Most hydration stations are located near major ramps, main gates and restrooms on the concourses.
Derek Darling, a 36-year-old Jacksonville resident, attends at least one game a year, usually early in the season’s hottest part. He’s seen other fans force their friends to drink water so they don’t pass out, he said.
Darling knows “what he’s getting into” when he chooses to attend a game, he said, and any opportunity to spend extra time in the shade or cooler areas is appealing.
“They call it The Swamp for a reason,” he said, “because it is stagnant in that stadium with no airflow, just sun and sweat.”
He tends to drink less alcohol on late summer game days, he said, because “it’s too hot, and the beer gets too warm.”
However, Darling never intends to leave a game early. But after years of enduring Gainesville's relentless heat, he's learned that sometimes the smartest play is leaving before the clock hits zero.
The UF football season begins Sept. 5.
Stacey Pena is a contributing writer for The Alligator.
