Part of what makes the Electric Forest music festival so appealing to artists and music fans each year is the setting. It’s in a forest. Nestled among the trees in the Sherwood Forest near Rothbury, Michigan, the venue is filled with tents, art, and glowing pathways to enhance the four-day experience.

What makes this event challenging from a medical coverage perspective is the setting.

It’s in a forest.

“This one is fun, although getting in there is tough, and you’re a long way from hospitals,” said Alayna Prest, MD, an emergency physician who worked the event for the first time this year.

“We see everything from dehydration to ankle sprains to cuts,” she said. “Every now and then, we see the very, very sick, and we just solve our way through that like we would in the ED. What I love about event medicine is seeing all the people — EMS, paramedics, nurses, physicians — willing to show up be part of keeping people safe and healthy.”

Dr. Prest recently moved back to Western Michigan from the Indianapolis area where event medicine events were a dime a dozen. Auto races, professional sports, bike races, marathons, and several college events meant numerous opportunities to get involved. In Western Michigan, things don’t come around as often, which is why she reached out to event organizers to help at Electric Forest.

Those organizers need people like her.

Event medicine has become a growing niche within emergency medicine, drawing doctors who thrive on adaptability, teamwork, and a chance to meet patients where they are. That could be a Scouting America National Jamboree, the middle of a forest, in the streets of a big city, or the bottom of mountain bike trail. Medical care is delivered inside tents and is designed to get people back out where the fun is taking place.

When injuries and illnesses can’t be handled on site, event organizers come into the picture.

Few people understand the logistical puzzle of large-scale event medical coverage better than Michael Diienno, COO of National Event Services, a company that organizes medical coverage for festivals, marathons and 10K races, and concerts across the country. His company organizes medical care at such festivals as Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Electric Forest, and other marquee events that attract tens of thousands of people.

Unlike the structured environment of a hospital, every event presents a unique set of variables: terrain, weather, distance to trauma centers, and the capacity of local EMS and hospitals.