On a sunny Saturday afternoon, Noreen Tofel sits cross-legged on her couch in Alexandria, Virginia, with her left arm stretched out on a pillow. A vein rises like a riverlet on a relief map. As nutrients trickle into her bloodstream, she talks about howBefore a work trip, Tofel, who works in human resources risk management, will schedule a drip to boost her energy and immunity levels. If she is planning an indulgent holiday, she will reverse the order.
In 2010, Jason Burke, a board-certified anaesthesiologist and pioneer in the field, created an IV hydration remedy for people who partied a little too hard. He cruised the Las Vegas Strip in a 45-foot-longbus, administering IV drips. The clinic-on-wheels is undergoing repairs and a refurbishment, but visitors can book an office appointment or schedule a rental house – or hotel – call.
“A lot of times we get bookings on the day-of,” she says. “They’ll wake up feeling like complete garbage and they have another day of shenanigans ahead of them. They’ll call us and say, ‘Can you have someone here ASAP?’”, Jesse Schwartz, a registered nurse, recommends a reactive strategy: Do the damage first, then come in for a reboot. The IV bag will have the greatest effect when you are at your lowest point – dehydrated, exhausted, nauseous.
“The reason that we rely very heavily on our medical team is that we sometimes have to turn people away who aren’t great candidates,” says Derek Hofmann, senior spa director at the Four Seasons Resort Orlando. “We err on the side of caution.”People suffering from trypanophobia will be relieved to know that the nurse uses a needle only briefly, to insert the catheter. The treatment can last from 30 minutes to several hours.
For Tofel’s drip, Madison Gnan, a registered nurse, removed the sterile items from their packaging, pulled nine vials out of her travel case and made the cocktail to order.still feels like the epicentre of IV drips. Like Elvis impersonators, they are inescapable. During a recent stay on the Strip, I would pass clinics on my morning coffee run and during my aimless wanderings in the black hole of casinos. On a search for my hotel’s fitness centre, I ended up inside an IV drip lounge.