| Advertisement |
|
|
Emergency responders also struggled with the snow Thursday, from fire trucks to the emergency rooms.
"They actually split off into a ditch," said Tammy Snow, a Deputy Chief with the Wichita Fire Department. She was talking about fire trucks that got stuck in the snow. "And there's been a couple cases this morning in which ambulances have been stuck or had to be pulled out."
It started with three fire trucks and an ambulance before dawn. They got stuck in the snow at a house fire on Seville Street. Because of their size they couldn't be pushed out of the snow. After dealing with the fire, they had to call for their own rescue.
"With these conditions and the amount of snow that we've had, it's common," said Snow about the stuck fire trucks. "Especially since they don't have four wheel drive. Even though people think they're heavy vehicles, they can plow right through everything, they still sit pretty low to the ground."
No one was hurt in that incident, but local hospitals were prepared for the storm's damage.
"We knew it was coming," said Carleton Rider, a senior administrator at Via Christi Hospitals in Wichita. His staff set up a command center where leaders can keep track of the weather conditions as well as staffing.
"Every nursing manager was in this room, talking about their staffing needs and trading back and forth," Rider said, describing the command center Thursday morning.
To help make sure they had enough help, Via Christi reserved hospital beds for staff.
"I'm a commuter," said Andrea Snyder. "I live north of Hutchinson, so I knew ahead of time, got my name on the list for a room on tuesday and brought my clothes. Came up, they had a room ready for me."
This is the second time Snyder has had to spend the night for a storm. And she's ready to do it again, for as long as the weather stays bad.
Meanwhile, down in the emergency room, doctors and nurses prepare for storm-related injuries.
"We did see some increases in motor vehicle crashes," said Joe Akif about conditions in the E.R. Wednesday night. By Thursday afternoon, the injuries were changing. "We also had some patients come in this morning some slip and trip and falls."
Across town at Wesley it was a similar story.
"We're starting to see some sledding accidents occur as people are getting out there and starting to sled in the snow with the first snow here," said Jeremy Pauly.
Crews at both hospitals talked about having to borrow vehicles and use administrators and friends to get people in to work. But they say they're ready for any emergencies this storm brings them.