Rush»

He’s never been busier in the ER than last weekend. This was due to the slipperiness the Netherlands had to contend with. Several hospitals say they have treated a record number of bone fractures.

In the Haga hospital in The Hague, 243 people arrived in the emergency room on Friday, if it is not slippery, there are about 110. On Saturday and Sunday, about 50 more patients entered.

Due to the crowds, the hospital has called an extra team for the operating room to treat people in the next few days. “Complex fractures, such as head injuries and pelvic fractures, have the highest priority, followed by the simplest fractures,” says the hospital in The Hague.

Also at the Alrijne hospital in Leiderdorp many people arrived with broken bones in one weekend. The counter stands at 329. “Even on a normal skating weekend we don’t come close to this. Extra staff have been spread across the board, from the plaster room to radiology and the operating room.”

David Baden, president of the Dutch Association of Accident and Emergency Physicians and emergency physician at the Diakonessenhuis in Utrecht, also spoke of a record crowd: “This weekend I received as many people in a day shift as we normally receive in 24 hours. And in the evening it happened even more… once.”

Pedestrians and cyclists in particular were surprised by how slippery it is. “Accidents have occurred in every age group. “From schoolchildren and students who have fallen on their bicycles, to people in their 80s who have just passed by the bakery and then broken a hip.”

In view of the skating weekend, some refreshments had already called other staff. Yet most people descended without skates. Ambulance services have made the urgent call to be called only in case of serious injuries.

Emergency room doctor Baden says he’s not sure why so many people fell despite the warnings. “Apparently sometimes we are a bit difficult to learn and we think it’s still possible. We need a weekend like this every winter to realize that slippery conditions are very dangerous.”

In addition to first aid, it was also occupied by repair shops and rescue companies. Rijkswaterstaat receives around 15 reports on a normal Sunday. Last night there were almost 500.

These were mostly rear-end collisions and one-sided crashes. Rijkswaterstaat had spread 13 million kilos of salt.