Oregon ice storms filled Willamette Valley emergency rooms with broken bones, sprains

Will Mendoza was walking to the parking lot of his apartment complex in Corvallis the night after an ice storm hit the Willamette Valley when he slipped on an icy hill and broke part of his elbow.

Now Mendoza's left arm is in a sling, limiting his day-to-day activities, and he has been waking up with arm pain.

Mendoza said he was walking to help a friend put chains on his car, but instead ended up in an ambulance headed to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. “I fell backwards, and I was trying to brace myself with my arms," the Oregon State University student said. “But as I braced myself, the majority of the force went onto my elbow, and it just really hurt.”

Despite a lot of people in the emergency room, intake and x-rays were done relatively quick, Mendoza said, but it was hours before he was seen by a specialist.

Many hospital emergency rooms in the Willamette Valley saw increased visits last week after the snow and ice storms.

Salem Health's emergency department had more than 200 storm-related visits from Jan. 13 to Jan. 18. In that time frame, they were at 99% to 106% capacity, according to Salem Health spokesperson Lisa Wood.

The hospital saw patients with a variety of injuries, ranging from fractures, trip and fall injuries, head injuries, car accidents and sledding injuries, Wood said.

Salem Health’s West Valley Hospital in Dallas said at times, roughly half of the patients in the emergency department had injuries related to the ice and snow.

PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center's RiverBend campus in Springfield had 25% more emergency department visits than normal Jan. 15-18, and most of the patients had injuries such as sprains, broken bones and fractures, said PeaceHealth spokesperson Joseph Waltasti.

Bruce Kelsh lives on five acres in the woods near Cottage Grove, and couldn't make it out of his house for several days last week. On Jan. 17, when the roads were finally clear of fallen trees and much of the ice had melted, Kelsh, his wife and dog ventured to town.

They were walking across Chambers Covered Railroad Bridge when Kelsh's wife began to slip. He said he reached out and stabilized her, but the next thing he knew, he slipped on black ice and was unable to get up.

"I tried moving. Excruciatingly painful," said Kelsh.

An ambulance took him to RiverBend Hospital where the emergency room was incredibly busy, he said, and where he met someone who had been waiting 19 hours to be seen.

Kelsh was told his right hip was broken in two places. He had surgery the next day and was released Saturday.

He said he was impressed with the emergency medical technicians, paramedics, doctors and nurses working so hard.

“We are incredibly grateful to our staff who continued to care for our patients and communities during this ice storm,” Dr. Jim McGovern, interim chief executive officer at PeaceHealth Oregon, said in a statement.

“They were dealing with the same issues at home as everyone else – power outages, icy roads, fallen trees," McGovern said. "But they found a way to make it in, and sometimes slept here rather than going home, so we could care for an above average number of patients.”

Sydney Wyatt covers healthcare inequities in the Mid-Willamette Valley for the Statesman Journal. Send comments, questions, and tips to her at SWyatt@gannett.com, (503) 399-6613, or on Twitter @sydney_elise44

The Statesman Journal’s coverage of health care inequities is funded in part by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, which seeks to strengthen the cultural, social, educational, and spiritual base of the Pacific Northwest through capacity-building investments in the nonprofit sector.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Oregon winter storm accidents caused increase in emergency room visits