Allina Health officials say the hospital and clinic provider fared rather well during the snowstorm this week.
Dr. Ryan Else said Allina wanted to keep staff as safe as possible, by providing places for them to stay if it was not safe to travel home, as some forecasters predicted. They also planned to have enough coverage in case staff members could not safely make it to work.
“We closed many of our live clinics,” said Dr. Else on Thursday. “However, we put a lot of emphasis on having our virtual clinics available to provide care.”
Dr. Else said most of the cases that presented on Thursday were shoveling-related injuries: slip-and-fall injuries and people reporting chest pain. Allina officials reported 18 slip-and-fall injuries treated at Mercy Hospital, nine at United, four at Cambridge, and three at Owatonna from Wednesday into Thursday mid-day.
“If you’re out there working hard to clear snow, be thoughtful. Pace yourself,” he said. “If you’re able to help your neighbors so that they don’t have any serious injuries either through a fall or with something like chest pains during this snow event.”
Still, Dr. Else said most people heeded forecasters’ warnings about the severity of the storm, keeping demand on hospitals and clinics pretty light.
“They are staying home,” he said. “They are just being safe, so we are seeing a decrease in our need for acute care, which is good.”
Allina Health officials report mostly shoveling-related injuries at area hospitals and clinics as storm moved out Thursday
