Hospitals See Influx Of Slip And Fall Injuries

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - One minute you're upright, the next you're not.

That's the way Tuesday morning went as a simple task of getting the newspaper put people in peril due to icy conditions.

Greg Sgro of South Park broke his arm trying to get to his car.

"I heard it break and I tried to get up and I heard it snap again."

At St. Clair Hospital, ambulances were stacked up outside the emergency entrance.

"Probably have about 35 patients in now that have experienced a fall this morning. Most of those [are] slips and falls on the ice related to going out to get the morning paper or trying to walk their pets," Executive Direction of St. Clair's Emergency Department David Kish said.

Irma Sorge's husband, Arvin, HAD just stepped outside their Carnegie home when he lost his footing.

"And he yells into the door 'Honey! Bring me a towel. I'm bleeding!'" Irma Sorge said.

Kish said they've mostly seen orthopedic injuries.

"We got a range of injuries from ankle injuries through hip fractures through elbow and shoulder injuries," Kish said.

St. Clair's emergency room set a record with injuries due to black ice on Dec. 30 by seeing 245 patients.

With 46 treatment rooms jam packed, patients were being seen as fast as humanly possible.

"We actually have an extra physician that came in to even try to decompress and open some space we typically don't use," Kish said.

Even with a two-hour delay Ryan Puhl wasn't spared on his way to Peters High School.

"I fell over and slammed my face off the ground," Puhl said.

Local emergency departments have treated more than 200 slip and fall injuries starting at midnight and throughout the day.

Only a small percentage of those patients have been admitted.