Hospital Emergency Rooms Seeing Higher Traffic Related To Hurricane Sandy
By Lynne Adkins
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- Hospital emergency rooms have been busy places this week, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
There has been a steady stream of patients into the emergency room at Doylestown Hospital, in Bucks County, according to Dr. Brenda Foley, the hospital's assistant medical director.
She says many people were flocking to the ER because their local doctors' offices were closed in the wake of the storm.
So many, she says, that the hospital made special arrangements.
"We opened a part of our emergency department to be used by a pediatrician and an orthopedic doctor, so they could see patients because they couldn't see them in their offices," Foley says.
She says common issues bringing patients to emergency rooms in the wake of Sandy include orthopedic injuries, oxygen supply issues, and side effects of carbon monoxide poisoning from running portable generators (see related story).
