113th Rose Parade: Nurses Keep Bands, Spectators Afloat

By Kristin Rothwell, NurseZone feature writer

When one thinks of New Year’s, two events often come to mind: the ball dropping in New York City’s Times Square and the Tournament of Roses Parade and football game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

Gearing up for this year’s Rose Bowl events are volunteers, including nurses, with the San Gabriel Valley Chapter American Red Cross in Pasadena, who will provide health care services along the parade route Jan. 1 and at the game on Jan. 3.

This year’s parade theme is "Good Times," and that’s exactly what the nurses, including Marla Keeth, RN, want the parade participants and spectators to experience.

"The nice thing is that people from all over the country come and make the parade what it is," said Keeth who has been a Red Cross parade volunteer for the past 12 years. "But being recognized because we are with the American Red Cross—[offering] a service that provides comfort and security—is an honor."

Each year, Keeth works at Station 12 near Victory Park from 8:30 a.m. until 1 p.m.— hours after the parade has ended. The station is often referred to as "Band Disband," since it’s the last first aid station on the parade route, where marching band members and other parade participants can receive everything from water and food to aspirin, bandages and more from the 10 to 12 volunteers at the station, before leaving the event.

"We see cases of asthma, foot blisters and back spasms from band members carrying instruments," she said. "Some students will march in the parade with pre-existing conditions, such as bad knees or the flu but still march. The human spirit is determined and then they fall apart at the end."

Keeth also explained that most students have only marched two miles, whereas the parade route is five and a half miles. In addition, many of the students are from the East Coast and are not used to Southern California’s warm climate, especially when dressed in band uniforms.

Under these conditions, Keeth said, "They often become dehydrated and hypoglycemic because their band directors tell them not to eat or drink during a certain time prior to the parade because they’ll likely need to go to the bathroom."

While the parade participants have their usual maladies, Keeth said she has seen spectators experience cardiac arrest, children who have fallen from bleachers, fist-fights between audience members and drug overdose cases.

But the story she remembers most about the Rose Bowl parade did not take place at the parade. It was 1973 and Keeth was working as a staff nurse at St. Luke’s Hospital of Pasadena when a woman was brought in and cared for by Keeth after experiencing cardiac arrest while attending the Rose Bowl Parade.

"I was so impressed that she was saved on the parade route by the volunteers," she said. "When the opportunity came along for me to volunteer at the parade, it was a very profound memory 17 years later to be part of something like the Rose Parade."

Virgi Mateo, RN, a San Gabriel Valley Chapter member who has been volunteering with the American Red Cross for 23 years, will also be working at Station 12 on Jan. 1.

Then, on Jan. 3, Mateo, along with a team of American Red Cross volunteers, will arrive at the Rose Bowl football game in an American Red Cross van, which has become their form of identification—especially with heightened security following the Sept. 11 attacks—ready to serve spectators and stadium employees.

Sporting a white American Red Cross T-shirt, blue pants and a blue jacket with "Emergency Medical Response Services" identification on the front, sides and back of her uniform, Mateo will provide health care services inside the Rose Bowl. She often volunteers her medical services at the venue during concerts, sports competitions and other events year-round.

Volunteers nurses and other medical staff are divided into four teams of two. Each team is equipped with first aid supplies, an external defibrillator and a radio to call for back-up and/or request the use of a ‘sit ‘em up cart’ for those with minor injuries or illnesses and a ‘lie down cart’ for those with life threatening symptoms, such as a person who is short of breath.

Though Mateo could not recall any specific events requiring medical aide at past Rose Bowl games, she shared how she and a team of volunteers revived a 6’2" brawny man suffering from hypoglycemia and on the verge of becoming unconscious. Once they treated the man, he eventually roused.

"It was neat that we could help him out," said Mateo.

Though she has no idea what medical cases will arise at the 2002 Rose Bowl as the University of Miami battles the University of Nebraska, Mateo said she’s ready. "I eat, sleep and breathe nursing. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else."

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Dec. 28, 2001 © 2001. NurseZone.com. All Rights Reserved.