Hosting and working marathons makes the elderly die quicker

I get the point of the article, but I think it is a little off base. The principle is that delayed care = worse patient outcome and marathons delay care. Point taken. But lots of things delay care. Calls in the middle of the night have a slower response times because crews are usually asleep. Calls during rush hour might have a slower response time. It happens. And if you are at a point in your life where 10 mins either way makes the difference, then be glad you live in 2017 because up to 1970 (the beginning of EMS) your call to 911 (which also didn't exist) would likely have brought a hearse with 2 ambulance attendants, who might have been able to give you O2, and that is about it.

I think we have developed this attitude that because we can save some that we must save all, and that is simply not realistic. If the goal of EMS was to prevent death then we would all be doctors, there would be an ER on every corner and there would be special highways reserved for ambulances. We must live life in the balance. Marathons help a lot more people than they hurt.
 
People can run all they want at the local track or down the sidewalks or wherever they want. When a large group of them get together awful things happen to innocent people.
 
Alan L Serve said:
When a large group of them get together awful things happen to innocent people.
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This is a little bit ridiculous. You make it sound like marathons are causing the death of innocent citizens everywhere ( "We was just standin' there mindin' our own business when this big ol' marathon come along and, well, that was it for poor Joe!"). If a couple of minutes longer response time makes that much of a difference, that patients outcome would probably be poor anyway.
 
Hey Alan... how about traffic disruptions caused by NFL games or NBA games or any other major sporting event?
 
Wait dont we have data that shows that response times dont make a clinical difference?
 
Bullets said:
Wait dont we have data that shows that response times dont make a clinical difference?
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Can you show this to every fire department in California ever then? Preferably in "Crayola" writing via PowerPoint...
 
VentMonkey said:
Can you show this to every fire department in California ever then? Preferably in "Crayola" writing via PowerPoint...
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But keep the crayons away from them. They have been known to eat them
 
VentMonkey said:
Can you show this to every fire department in California ever then? Preferably in "Crayola" writing via PowerPoint...
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I cant help those who have already submitted to voluntary lobotamization

My local FDs do the same thing. And we still beat them to jobs without lights and sirens
 
Alan L Serve said:
I love marathons. I worry about the public health damage they create.
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What about the poor life choices millions of people make? Or driving lights and sirens as much as we do? Or the not so amazing education standards of EMS? Or road construction? Or trains? Or snow?
 
Summit said:
Hey Alan... how about traffic disruptions caused by NFL games or NBA games or any other major sporting event?
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Dozens of roads aren't closed for 12+ hours during major sporting events. In fact there are often parking bans in order to keep traffic flowing better.
 
Alan L Serve said:
Dozens of roads aren't closed for 12+ hours during major sporting events. In fact there are often parking bans in order to keep traffic flowing better.
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You've obviously never visited NYC when the president comes to town, especially when he visits the UN..... Lower Manhattan becomes an even worse gridlock than usual
 
DrParasite said:
You've obviously never visited NYC when the president comes to town, especially when he visits the UN..... Lower Manhattan becomes an even worse gridlock than usual
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I've been to NYC. They put their trash on the sidewalks. It was gross.
 
Alan L Serve said:
Dozens of roads aren't closed for 12+ hours during major sporting events. In fact there are often parking bans in order to keep traffic flowing better.
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Uh, yeah they are. Maybe not for 12 hours, but marathons don't necessarily last that long, either.

The point is that the authors of this study may have looked at just marathons, but there are lots of other things that happen in our society that can significantly affect traffic flow and potentially affect response times. I live outside Charlotte, where we have several marathons a year and I've never seen them cause traffic delays that are even in the same league as the ones we see on the days that the Panthers are playing at home, probably not even as bad as what you see during the many Saturday festivals uptown, and not even CLOSE to the traffic delays north of the city when NASCAR is in town. Even if the degree of delays were comparable, the roads blocked during a marathon are open at noon. These others things go on for a full day or more.

So pretty much all this study shows us is that events that cause significant traffic delays could affect EMS response and transport times, and that for certain patients, slower EMS response and transport times could have an impact on mortality. That isn't earth-shattering news. And it certainly doesn't suggest the absurdity of cancelling all marathons.
 
Remi said:
Uh, yeah they are. Maybe not for 12 hours, but marathons don't necessarily last that long, either.

The point is that the authors of this study may have looked at just marathons, but there are lots of other things that happen in our society that can significantly affect traffic flow and potentially affect response times. I live outside Charlotte, where we have several marathons a year and I've never seen them cause traffic delays that are even in the same league as the ones we see on the days that the Panthers are playing at home, probably not even as bad as what you see during the many Saturday festivals uptown, and not even CLOSE to the traffic delays north of the city when NASCAR is in town. Even if the degree of delays were comparable, the roads blocked during a marathon are open at noon. These others things go on for a full day or more.

So pretty much all this study shows us is that events that cause significant traffic delays could affect EMS response and transport times, and that for certain patients, slower EMS response and transport times could have an impact on mortality. That isn't earth-shattering news. And it certainly doesn't suggest the absurdity of cancelling all marathons.
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I'm not sure how much experience you have with major sporting events but around me there are parking bans in order to turn 1 lane roads into 2 lane roads which speeds things up due to the increased traffic.
 
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