Icy roads bring flood of fracture patients to Helsinki hospitals
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"Then I heard a snap", says Juhani Grahn as he lies at the emergency room of Töölö Hospital on Thursday morning, recalling recent events.
A few hours earlier Grahn, a van driver by profession, had fallen down in the loading area in Hakkila. He had intended to pop into the office and sign for a few packages.
"On the dark asphalt there was a spot of snow covering exactly one square metre. There was ice beneath it, and that is where I fell down. The ambulance drivers also slipped on the same spot", Grahn said. Then he told a doctor who was passing by that his heel "felt like it was on fire".
Still, the worse problem was his fractured shinbone.
"We’ll have to replace the splint", answered surgeon Lauri Handolin at the emergency room, which was very busy on Thursday because of the layer of snow which had fallen on Helsinki earlier.
"In the morning we have had about 40 patients, and the injuries of about 30 of them were from slipping and falling", Handolin said. He added that in the afternoon there was no more time to count the patients.
Because of a shortage of space, Grahn had to wait in a corridor for a doctor’s assessment of his situation.
Down the hall, behind blue curtains, about 10 patients were lying, many of them with injuries related to slipping and falling.
"The most common injuries from slipping are fractures of the wrist, ankle, and elbow, as well as head injuries", said Handolin, who has operated on patients in Töölö for four years.
"When the first snows come, people slip and slide for about three weeks. After that things get to be more quiet", Handolin says from experience. However, he suspects that there will be busier days to come than Thursday.
"When snow falls at night on top of clear ice I know that it will be a busy day at work."
The surgeon’s advice for people who have to walk on slippery roads: "Take sufficient time."
Juhani Grahn says that he knew all of that.
"Sure, I’ve heard it a hundred times that when things first get slippery, you should take it easy", the patient said as he lay on a stretcher.
The fracture did not come at a very convenient time for him.
"My daughter is in the process of moving. This week I was supposed to carry new beds, and because of the bus strike, I have been driving my wife to work every morning", he explained.
Now he will have to remain idle at least until Christmas.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 19.11.2004 - TODAY |
 Icy roads bring flood of fracture patients to Helsinki hospitals |
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