OU Health Onsite Teams Cared For 900+ Parade Attendees at OKC Thunder Champion Parade

OU Health, the official healthcare partner of the 2025 NBA Champions Oklahoma City Thunder, mobilized comprehensive medical support for Tuesday's Champions Parade. More than 100+ physicians, nurses and healthcare professionals deployed across multiple locations as the official healthcare provider of the parade.

OU Health Medical Support Service Highlights:

• Served 940 patients
• 100+ health professionals onsite
• Two (2) first-aid tents
• Five (5) cooling stations
• Five (5) cooling buses
• Administering 75 liters of IV fluid to approximately 75 patients
• Distributing 50,000 OU Health cooling towels with support of Thunder and partners help.

This proactive approach to community health in a large-scale event underscores OU Health's unique capabilities as the academic healthcare system and the only Level 1 Trauma Center in the state. By strategically establishing first-aid stations, cooling tents, and cooling buses, OU Health's team prevented hundreds of emergency room visits while providing immediate care to parade attendees in Oklahoma's sweltering heat. Demonstrating the academic healthcare system’s effectiveness in proactive medical response strategy in managing large-scale community events.

"Being Oklahoma’s flagship academic healthcare system and only Level 1 Trauma Center, we have infrastructure, abilities and advancements not available elsewhere in the state," said Richard Lofgren, M.D., MPH, president and CEO of OU Health. "We take our duty to serve the state and the community very seriously. It's not what we do. It's who we are."

OU Health medical staff arrived onsite at 5 a.m. to set up first-aid tents, cooling stations and mobile medical units before crowds gathered. The response team included physicians, nurses, clinical support staff and non-clinical professionals working collaboratively to meet all anticipated needs.

"We started getting patients around 9:30 a.m.," said R. Matthew Atkins, M.D., associate chief medical officer for adult services at OU Health. "The parade didn't start until 10:30 a.m., but patients started arriving early, right around the time the sun was peaking over the convention center."

Nicole Hodge, BSN, R.N., CEN, TCRN, manager of the Trauma Emergency Department at OU Health, coordinated much of the onsite response and said, “the day was hot, but our OU Health response went smoothly. It was mostly heat exhaustion. We had a couple of low blood sugar incidents and some minor injuries that we treated with splints and wound care. But for the most part, it was heat exhaustion."

Academic Healthcare Advantage

As Oklahoma's only academic healthcare system with the state's only children's hospital and only American College of Surgeons (ACS)-Verified Level I trauma centers for both adults and children, OU Health was uniquely positioned to provide comprehensive medical support for the parade. The team treated patients with cooling measures including ice packs, cooling towels, water, and administered IV fluids to many patients experiencing dehydration and heat-related symptoms. Only nine adults and four children required transport to hospitals.

"I would venture to guess that 95% of treated patients were heat related," said Dr. Atkins. "Most people presented with nausea or light-headedness. We had quite a few people that passed out, but for the most part, they passed out into the arms of a friend or a family member and we were able to care for them onsite."

Collaborative Community Response

OU Health worked for weeks alongside other emergency response agencies, including EMS and the Regional Medical Response System, which helped plan strategic locations for cooling and first-aid stations based on anticipated crowd patterns along the parade route. The collaborative approach proved highly effective, with medical teams positioned at optimal locations to serve the community.

"We do this to care for our community so they can enjoy themselves and know that we're there to take care of them if something happens," Hodge said regarding OU Health's mission at the event. "It was 95 degrees and humid downtown with limited water access. Having us there allowed people to get medical attention and kept them from having to go to the hospital."

Preparedness for All Scenarios

Beyond the visible onsite response, OU Health maintained enhanced readiness protocols at its facilities and planned for any scenario while continuing to provide regular patient care services.

" We planned comprehensively to ensure that if any event occurred, we anticipated it," said Dr. Lofgren. "This successful response reflects OU Health's infrastructure capabilities and commitment to serving as Oklahoma's safety net for both routine and emergency medical needs."

For Atkins, who grew up in Oklahoma as a Thunder fan, the experience held deep personal meaning.

"It was so cool to be part of putting on the parade. Being able to give back to Oklahoma City and help make that celebration possible was powerful,” he said. “It will be one of the top days that I'll remember forever."

OU Health's presence at the parade was more than a clinical operational endeavor, it reflects OU Health’s commitment to the community and its ability to lead with purpose, agility and heart, said Jennifer Schultz Kouandjio, MBA, chief marketing and growth officer for OU Health.

"The outpouring of support from city and state partners for our team in the planning and day of parade is a testament to the strength of our people and the trust we've earned as Oklahoma's flagship academic health system. We love the OKC Thunder players and entire Thunder organization. It was an honor and privilege to stand alongside them as they made history,” she said.

OU Health

OU Health is Oklahoma’s only comprehensive academic health system and the destination of choice for complex care. We provide extensive options for patients who turn to OU Health for leadership in clinical care, research, and education. As the clinical partner of the University of Oklahoma, one of the nation’s leading academic and research institutions, we are committed to excellence. Our physicians serve as faculty at the OU College of Medicine, expanding the boundaries of medical knowledge through research and training the next generation of healthcare professionals. Their breakthroughs lead to life-changing treatments and technologies.

With more than 12,000 employees and over 1,300 physicians and advanced practice providers, we serve Oklahoma and the region with the state’s only comprehensive children’s hospital (Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health); National Cancer Institute-Designated Cancer Center (OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center); and the flagship academic hospital and Oklahoma’s only Level I trauma center (OU Health University of Oklahoma Medical Center).

For more information, visit OUHealth.com.