In Central Massachusetts, where the snow was heavy, UMass-Memorial Medical Center in Worcester reported smooth operations in the first part of storm Juno, but administrators are concerned about later shifts.
More than 150 nurses, doctors, and other staff stayed overnight at the hospital so they could make the early shift, according to president Paul Muldoon. But as the snow passed the two-foot mark, he said staff might have trouble making it in this evening.
“It is the responsbility of the employees to get to work,” Muldoon says, “so the best we can do is set up very large areas for pp to stay at hte hospitals, providing cots, blankets and sheets. Toiletries, shower facilities.”
In the past, Muldoon says, the national guard would transport medical staff during snowstorms, but they don’t do that anymore. Muldoon says the hospital is a regional trauma center, so serious cases have still been coming in, but walk-in ER traffic has been light.
Meanwhile, in Western Massachusetts, hospitals and emergency responders say their work has been relatively easy going …at least so far.
Mark Novotny, chief medical officer at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, says most elective procedures were cancelled for today, and about 70 medical staff members slept in the hospital overnight. He says the emergency room was busy just before the storm, but slowed down considerably after it started.
“People will postpone things during a storm when they really shouldn’t,” he said. “They don’t necessarily feel like they have to call an ambulance so people wait. Sometimes after a storm people we see are actually sicker than we wish they were.”
Both Cooley Dickinson and Baystate Medical Center in Springfield are expecting ER business to pick up as more people venture outside, slip and fall, or have cardiac problems from shoveling.
In the Hilltowns of Goshen and Chesterfield, emergency response director Larry Holmberg says the travel ban kept mid-storm emergencies at a minimum, but he’s also expecting more calls as people get back on the road.