GE HealthCare: When the crowd arrives, technology's role in helping ensure hospital beds are open

Concerts, parades, sporting events and worldwide championship games—every large-scale event brings a surge of people and can spike hospital capacity too. From heat-related illness to infectious disease spread, how do hospitals and health systems prepare for the likelihood of higher patient volumes in their city, and why do children require a plan of their own?

Whenever crowds gather for major events, a host city inherits more than the event itself—it inherits the safety, health and care of those who arrive. As thousands of people fill venues and the streets around them, the hospitals nearby become part of the event. The World Health Organization notes that such mass gatherings “can pose public health risks and strain the public health resources” of the hosting community, and a recent report found spikes in emergency visits for up to 12 hours after such events. With elevated heat risk across 14 of the 16 2026 FIFA World Cup host cities, further exacerbating the possibility of hospital admissions, coupled with an influx of international travelers possibly introducing pathogens, hospitals and healthcare leaders must be prepared.

Few people understand the convergence of risk better than Dr. Jennifer Watts. As the Associate Chief Medical Officer—Acute Care and Inpatient Services at Children’s Mercy in Kansas City—one of the top children’s hospitals in the United States—she has spent her career caring for patients and preparing for the improbable, yet possible, including days when events can take a turn for the worse. Preparedness, she says, is not a plan that sits on a shelf, but a trained discipline. “We must understand the possible impacts and anticipate what can go wrong in advance, to properly mitigate risks the day of. As healthcare leaders, we must be able to swiftly react to what has occurred and properly lead through it to make sure people are receiving the proper level of care.”

Read the full article via GE HealthCare