Time to stock up on the antidote for rattlesnake bites and boost blood supplies. More than 1 million visitors are expected to flood the state for the solar eclipse Aug. 21 and hospitals in its path are ramping up for the massive influx. For hospital systems from central Oregon to the coast, it will be all-hands on deck in the run-up and aftermath of the eclipse.
Without a precedent, planners have turned for advice to their counterparts in Sturgis, a town in South Dakota that attracts about a half a million people for a yearly motorcycle rally in August. “One of the key things that we learned was that the need for acute care services oftentimes just mimics the increase in the population,” said Dr. Jeff Absalon, executive vice president of St. Charles Health System in Bend. READ MORE
