HOUSTON – The CEO of ParaDocs, the medic company hired by Astroworld Festival organizers, spoke out for the first time Monday and said more than 70 people worked to save lives during the deadly tragedy.
Alex Pollak told CNN his staff dealt with an “impossible feat” of treating 11 people with cardiac arrests at the same time. Pollak said while an active threat like a crowd surge is underway, protocol prevents them from going into a situation where they might risk personal harm, CNN reported.
“This is something I’ll have nightmares about for the rest of my life,” Pollak told CNN. “The team is extremely broken up about it. Seeing so many young people getting CPR at one time, it’s just something no one should have to go through. Even though we’re medical professionals, we should be used it. You can’t get used to something like that.”
According to CNN, to Patrick M. “Marty” Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association, said Houston officials said firefighters were not in contact with ParaDocs staff, and when firefighters did ask for radio communications they were given cellphone numbers.
Pollak said ParaDocs staff did use radios provided by the event organizers and that the company did not have the ability to call a stop to the concert. Pollak believes the concert should have ended sooner, but that stopping the concert abruptly in that moment might have made the situation worse.
Pollak told CNN the standard ratio at these types of events is one medic per thousand people. ParaDocs said they had staff and resources in anticipation of 70,000 people. It was estimated that around 50,000 went to the festival.
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