Centre LifeLink Sees Increase in Alcohol-Related Calls over State Patty’s Weekend

The numbers aren’t all good.

While State College and Penn State police saw a decline in their call volume for State Patty’s Day weekend, Centre LifeLink saw an jump in alcohol-related calls, the ambulance service reported Monday.

Its workers handled 53 alcohol-related calls — that is, for alcohol poisoning and intoxication — between 6 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Sunday.

The tally for the same period last year was 34 alcohol-related calls, Centre LifeLink reported.

Its highest volume of the weekend came on Saturday night, when 32 total calls rolled in. The second-highest volume materialized Friday night, when LifeLink medics handled 24 calls.

The overall number of State Patty’s weekend emergency dispatches declined modestly, from 83 calls last year to 77 this year, LifeLink reported.

In its sixth year, the Penn State-student-created drinking holiday has became one of the busiest periods for local emergency responders. State College and Penn State police reported Sunday night that their overall call volumes dropped somewhat this year, marking a reversal after the highs logged in 2011.

More thorough details are available in this earlier report.

At Mount Nittany Medical Center, as of midday Sunday, the emergency department had seen 60 patients over the weekend for alcohol-related issues. The department reported handling 69 alcohol-related cases on State Patty’s Day weekend in 2011.

Related coverage

• Police: Call Volume Declines for State Patty’s Day Weekend 2012 (Feb. 26, 2012)

• Police, Hospital Begin to Release State Patty’s Statistics (Feb. 26, 2012)
  

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