COLUMBIA − Freezing rain overnight Monday caused slick and dangerous road conditions, leaving emergency responders with a high call volume.
MU Health Care and Boone Health had roughly 15 ambulances out Monday morning, three more than usual, according to Shawn Gerstner, emergency medical services manager at Boone Health.
Between midnight and 2:30 p.m. Monday, the Missouri State Highway Patrol's Troop F responded to:
- Calls for service: 215
- Stranded motorists: 151
- Non-injury crashes: 51
- Injury crashes: 5
- Fatal crashes: 1
“The biggest increase [in responses] has been the vehicle collisions and the falls,” Gerstner said.
Joshua Stilley, medical director of MU Ambulance Service, said falls can result in numerous different injuries.
“The injuries that we see on a day like today, a lot of hip and lower leg injuries from people falling down. We also see when people fall on to their arms outstretched, we can see a lot of wrist fractures,” Stilley said
According to Gerstner, emergency vehicles need to be careful just to get to an injury call.
“Emergency vehicles are susceptible to bad conditions just like everybody else. It’s taken us longer to get places, we have to be careful,” he said. “We’re also having difficulties with vehicles getting stuck and dealing with the bad conditions as well.”
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Stilley said MU’s ambulances also have to drive slower due to the conditions.
“The ambulances are big heavy trucks at their baseline so they are not nimble and they’re definitely not good ice skaters,” Stilley said.
However, Gerstner said ambulances come equipped with winter weather gear like salt ice melt, which crews need beyond the roads.
“As we arrive at people’s homes even, once we get there we still have issues [with] walks and steps being slick, and we have to mitigate that as well to get patients out safely,” Gerstner said
With an influx of calls Monday morning, Gerstner said crews have to prioritize what they can respond to immediately.
“We’re still going to respond to emerging situations but for some lower priority complaints, we may be delayed responding to [those] as we have to address other issues,” he said. “The calls are taking us longer than normal due to the slick conditions and having to be cautious.”
Boone County Sheriff's Capt. Brian Leer said deputies picked up dispatchers for work on Monday morning.
“Nobody can say, ‘Hey I’m not going to have a heart attack today because the offices are closed,” Leer said. “With our operations [at] the Boone County Sheriff’s Office and Boone County Joint Communications, the expectation is that we run 24/7 365 days a year, regardless.”
Leer, Stilley and Gerstner all advise drivers to be careful and drive slow if they have to be out on the roads during icy conditions.
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