Carnival without borders – Lucerne emergency center is preparing for carnival – News

Carnival without corona restrictions: It could get tight not only in the streets, but also in the emergency room.

In Central Switzerland, and of course in the stronghold city of Lucerne in particular, the festive temperature is rising: Carnival fever is the order of the day. Especially, of course, because the pandemic had kept many from celebrating in the past two years.

Dry weather is also forecast for the start on Thursday with the big bang in the early morning. The best conditions for the disguised people to stream through Lucerne’s old town in their thousands.

But the boisterous partying also has its downsides. Theresa Wolf knows this from past experience. The department head of the emergency center in the Lucerne cantonal hospital says: “On carnival days we certainly look after more drunken patients than usual, but also those with minor injuries.”

We also have additional security personnel in the emergency center.

In view of this, the roster for the coming week has been adjusted: “Above all, we have increased the number of night services – with people for emergency care and nursing assistants.”

And speaking of alcohol: the emergency center must also be prepared for non-medical problems: “We have additional security staff in the emergency center,” says Theresa Wolf. She can confirm that paramedic employees are increasingly being confronted with aggressive behavior, says the head of department at the emergency center. But she puts it into perspective: “I have to say that we have been quite spared so far and can manage it well.”

Legend:

The carnival doesn’t go completely without restrictions either: the police are already trying to ensure order in the streets.

Keystone/Alexandra Wey archive image

In general, Theresa Wolf is confident about the upcoming, likely tough working days. “We have a very flexible team and all services could be covered without any problems,” she assures.

However, it is also clear that the personnel situation is fundamentally tense, not only in the Lucerne emergency center and not only during the carnival. On the one hand because of the shortage of skilled workers, on the other hand because more and more people are turning to emergencies directly. Last year you had “a significant increase in entries”.

A few hours of waiting is common

And of course that also means that patients often have to be patient before they can be treated. The waiting times are difficult to predict, but: “We always say: you have to calculate between three and four hours.”

That doesn’t sound very tempting. And it could be a good motivation for the carnival crowd: that they limit themselves a little – at least when it comes to alcohol – despite the fact that there are no restrictions on the carnival.