Hillsborough County Health Department plans for heat issues during Republican National Convention

TAMPA - Medical personal are meeting at The Hillsborough County Health department Wednesday night for training on how to handle medical issues with folks in town for the Republican National Convention. 

The big issues: the heat, the weather and the potential for violence.

Here's Tampa's plan to keep people healthy and out of area hospitals.

The sound of construction on the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway fills the air near the health department downtown.  But during the week of the RNC, the shaded area will be the place to come for non-emergency medical problems.

The Hillsborough County Health Department parking lot across the street has been set aside for protesters - the streets around it - the parade route.

And in a small condensed area - a lot of visitors are expected to congregate. 

Ryan Pedigo is the Health Department’s Public Health Preparedness Director. “They're not used to the temperature. They're not used to the humidity. At 7:00 a.m., the heat index was over 90."

And the fear is dehydration will lead to heat stress and even heat stroke, so the plan is to set up hydration stations around downtown.

Pedigo says, “The hydration stations will be staffed by the Salvation Army. The city of Tampa is working with them to provide water for people who will be out on the streets.”

And medical tents will be near the protest areas accessible by foot.  “We'll have pop-up tents with tent misters, places where people can sit in the shade and get out of the sun and cool down and then, when they feel better, they can go back out.

The medical tent will be staffed with doctors and nurses who can also treat injuries from any violence that might arise - the goal - to keep non-emergencies out of the hospital. “Tampa Fire will still respond throughout the city but if I have a crowd of 15,000 people, I want to make sure I have something relatively close by so I don't overwhelm Tampa fire or the system.”