As people are gearing up for the long weekend, they'll likely have some peace of mind knowing that the EMS will be available all through the holiday.

Since a lot of different situations can pop up, these service members are prepared in the case of any emergency.

However, as the long weekend progresses, certain types of calls end up being more prevalent than others.

That's according to the EMS operations manager for the southeast Selena Letain, who says it can be an abnormal weekend for the paramedics.

"There isn't a lot of change in our operations. Our ambulances are still staffed, and a lot of our operations are status quo. We generally might not see an increase in the number of calls that we're doing, but we just might see it in the type of calls we're doing."

Those types of calls usually have to do with cars, since there are so many more people traveling to and from destinations over the weekend.

Letain says that can cause more calls for those that service areas near major highways or other roadways that travelers frequent.

"It can be, especially a lot of our rural services where we have people kind of traveling through or typically serve some of the busier highways. Highway calls aren't an anomaly for us, but it's one of those types of calls that we may see an increase over the long weekend as opposed to every other regular day."

Other than car-related incidents, alcohol is also a major contributing factor when it comes to how many calls there are on a weekend.

While there have been some steps in curbing that danger with alcohol awareness programs, Letain says they're still likely to see more calls this weekend thanks to alcohol.

"I think we certainly do see an increase in alcohol-related calls in general. Whether they're accidents or other alcohol-generated issues that occur on long weekends. I think it's still ongoing and there still needs to be a lot of work that's done with it."

Related Stories