Snow, ice mishaps keep hospitals busy

Hospital workers pulled extra shifts to attend to breaks, sprains, bumps and bruises experienced by people trying to navigate — and play in — the snow and ice Monday and Tuesday.

At Evergreen Hospital Medical Center in Kirkland, 42 employees from the evening shift worked through the night to fill in for co-workers who couldn't make it in. The emergency department had treated 63 patients by 2 p.m. Tuesday, a substantial jump from the 39 they had seen by the same time Monday. Most injuries were weather-related, spokeswoman Beth Zborowski said.

"We had some sprains, and some fractures. Some head injuries that were bumps, concussions, cuts, things like that," she said.

Evergreen borrowed two four-wheel-drive trucks from Ford of Kirkland to transport staff members and patients, Evergreen safety manager Rick Case said. A few discharged patients who couldn't make it home were put up at the Clarion Inn.

Case, who had been at the hospital 36 hours by Tuesday afternoon, said that although the hospital kept patients safe, weather limited some hospital activities.

"There was a delay in ambulances and medic units, because of the gridlock," Case said. "Weather conditions really shortened how far we could go out to pick up staff."

The trucks also ferried blood between the hospital and a lab in Bellevue, trips normally done by taxis.

Susan Gregg-Hanson, a spokeswoman for Harborview Medical Center, said doctors treated a handful of snow-related injuries Tuesday. Most patients either hurt themselves sledding or slipping and falling on the ice, she said.

At Overlake Hospital Medical Center in Bellevue and Stevens Hospital in Edmonds, workers also stayed over to fill in for colleagues who couldn't make it.

"We did not cancel any surgeries, but there were patients that did," said Alison Estep, an Overlake spokeswoman. "We've had some hip fractures from falls on the ice. But that's about it."

Joe Mullin: 206-464-2761 or jmullin@seattletimes.com