A social media post describing a collapsed young woman at last weekend’s Festival is being shared rapidly and widely. The post is highly critical of the support received. Those accused have yet to respond.
Posted 24 hours ago, it has been shared nearly 10,000 times, with 3,000 of those being added just this morning.
Under fire
In it, the woman accuses Isle of Wight Festival organisers, security staff, the welfare team and a medic of not providing the attention the young woman needed.
The victim, Chloe Hammerton, who herself is an Emergency Care Assistant working in the ambulance service, was “duped into taking a puff” from the vape of a man who approached her at the Festival. Within a minute she had collapsed and was fitting.
In the opinion of Chloe’s partner, Natasha Ward, the Festival’s response to an urgent appeal for medical help was “Completely abhorrent”.
What happened
As Natasha tells it, Chloe was standing in one of the food queues at the festival with her brother when she was approached by the man who convinced her to take a puff from his vape.
Natasha explained,
“Within a minute, she was in and out of consciousness, unable to speak or move any part of her body and fitting with her pupils constricting to pinpoints and then dilating.”
Appeal to find man
Although there is an appeal to identify the man Natasha says is responsible for the spiking, she is keen to raise awareness for the long wait they endured, whilst her partner was seriously ill.
Crash call, but waited ‘two hours for adequate medical response’
Natasha blames the festival organisers, security, ‘welfare team’ and medic for what she says meant “having to wait over an hour for a ‘medical response’ and over two hours for any adequate medical response”.
She added that the call for help was put through as a ‘crash call’, normally signifying a cardiac arrest, Natasha said they still had to wait two hours for ‘adequate’ medical care.
Ward: When she was in danger herself she was let down
Natasha said,
“Chloe is an Emergency Care Assistant and works in the ambulance service saving other people’s lives every day! She’s working towards being a fully qualified paramedic. And when she was in danger herself she was let down.
“If it wasn’t for Rachel – an incredible nurse in the crowd – and Sophie, our amazing student nurse sister-in-law, helping Chloe, we would be in a totally different situation.”
You can read Natasha’s description of the incident on her social media post.
IW Festival: This was an isolated incident dealt with quickly and professionally
News OnTheWight approached the Festival organisers for their response.
A festival spokesperson told News OnTheWight,
“We operate a zero tolerance policy for anyone attempting to bring drugs to the festival and have robust systems in place to deal with anyone who attempts to do so.
“This was an isolated incident dealt with quickly and professionally by all teams on site and no further reports of this nature have been recorded.
“Our event medical team employs a wide range of appropriately qualified healthcare professionals. These fully-trained individuals work 24 hours a day across our medical facilities on site.
“Regarding the incident reported on social media, we are confident the team dealt with it in a timely manner, with an appropriate medical practitioner on site within 5 minutes and the patient’s condition assessed as non-life-threatening and subsequently transported to the on site hospital.
“The safety and wellbeing of attendees is our utmost priority and alongside our partners in the police, security and medical teams, we work incredibly hard over the festival weekend to ensure everyone is looked after.”
Criticism of police handling
Natasha also had criticism for the Police. She explained,
“The police on scene also didn’t conduct proper drugs testing whilst we were there like they were meant to, and when we went to Southampton police station on Sunday evening they had to phone the investigating Detective Sergeant from the IW, who was adamant Chloe wasn’t to conduct the drugs test we had in front of us because it had been 25 hours instead of 24. Even though most of the likely drugs used in this can stay in your system for days if not weeks.”
Police confirmed to News OnTheWight that this incident is being investigated,
“Officers are in contact with the woman and will be carrying out drugs testing to help further the investigation.”
Police provided no response to the criticism of their handling of the case.
Article edit
6.30pm 20th Jun 2023 – Comment from IWF added
Image: © Natasha Ward
