Bracing for ER visits

Hospitals are bracing for an increase in emergency department visits once the snow tapers off and residents start digging out.

Tonight and tomorrow, “when people go back to their routines, we’ll see a lot more patients,” said Dr. Frederick Davis, executive vice chair of emergency medicine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park.

Long Island Jewish already has seen a few slip and falls, with wrist and knee injuries, he said. As more cars go back on the road, Davis expects to see some car accident injuries, as well as people complaining of chest pains after shoveling. The hospital typically sees only a heart attack or two each snow season, but the chest pains may be a sign of narrowing arteries that could eventually lead to a heart attack, he said. The emergency department also typically sees an increase in cases like people with kidney disease with complications because the snow prevented them from getting to their dialysis appointments, he said.

Some doctors and nurses stayed at the hospital overnight on cots and blow-up mattresses, to make sure they were able to be at the hospital in the morning, although staff who didn’t do so have been able to get to the hospital, Davis said. They are exempt from the counties’ bans on vehicles.

By David Olson

david.olson@newsday.com@DavidOlson11

David Olson covers health care. He has worked at Newsday since 2015 and previously covered immigration, multicultural issues and religion at The Press-Enterprise in Southern California.