By Paul Courson
CNN.com
BOWIE, Maryland — President Obama interrupted a campaign speech twice Thursday to seek help for people in the audience who collapsed.
“I think we might have had somebody faint down here, so if we got the paramedics,” Obama said about halfway through his remarks under bright afternoon sunshine at Bowie State University. “They’ll be all right. Just make sure you give them some space. And if somebody has a bottle of water, you might want to give it to them.”
A few minutes later, near the end of his remarks, Obama again noted a member of the crowd in distress.
“Someone up here got a little hot. Let ‘em sit down. Let ‘em sit down,” he said to the audience, asking if there was a bottle of water on stage for the stricken person. “Remember, next time you come out here, eat something and drink something” beforehand, Obama added.
The president was stumping for Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who is seeking re-election.
Prince George’s County medical personnel said they responded to a number of cases at the university on Thursday.
Fire Department spokesman Mark Brady said that between 1:45 and 2 p.m., about an hour before Obama’s speech, ambulance crews stationed at the campus as part of the White House event responded to reports of people “fainting, getting dizzy and otherwise passing out.”
“The on-site personnel were quickly overwhelmed, and we had at least six people being treated on scene and one transported,” Brady said.
Additional medical personnel were coming to the scene, he said, adding that the cause of the illnesses was not immediately known.
Prince George’s County Fire Department officials later said they were treating at least two dozen people at the university for fainting and dehydration.
Also, a heckler was heard shouting “You’re a liar!” early in Obama’s remarks. The man was shouted down by others in the crowd, and it was unclear whether the president heard him.
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