KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Football and fans were on fire at Saturday's game. Feels-like temperatures were close to 100 degrees. Jerry Harnish, AMR's Operations Director, said there were more cases of heat-related illnesses than usual.
"What we were seeing at the game on Saturday was an unusually large number of people that were affected by the heat. So, I think there were 108 cases which is unusually large for game day. And of those, 12 were sick enough to go to the hospital," Harnish said.
He said paramedics on-site did their best to help people cool down. But, some cases were too extreme to treat outside of the hospital.
"When paramedics are able to start IVs for fluids and get a patient into a cool space, but they just don't seem to be recovering, then that's when they really need more definitive care than what can be done in the field," Harnish said.
Angie Jacobs has worked at Neyland Stadium during gamedays for six years. She said she never saw anything like what happened at the opener.
"I saw multiple people displaying heat-like symptoms, stroke symptoms. A lot of passing out. Red faces," Jacobs said.
She said she saw multiple people pass out.
"There were four people like bam, bam, bam, bam, right in a row that had went down and I've never seen that," Jacobs said.
Jacobs is also a registered nurse. She said education is a big part of her practice.
"How to cool somebody down quickly, there's key areas which are the neck, the groin, the armpits. They are the key areas where large vessels are, which can cool somebody down quickly. Having somebody in a cool place, hydration is key for sure. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate before you even go to the game," She said.
Harnish also stressed the importance of drinking water and how alcohol should be limited during extremely hot days.
"A lot of people enjoy a cold beer but the reality is that alcohol, caffeine and sugar are not your friends when it comes to staying hydrated. They tend to dehydrate the body and very quickly too," Harnish said.
He said August and September can still get hot this year, so it's important that fans take precautions if they plan to travel to Neyland Stadium on game day.