GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — Icy conditions caused problems across West Michigan Tuesday morning.
In addition to numerous car accidents, there were also higher numbers of people slipping on slick surfaces and getting injured.
Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids said that they had 20 slip-and-fall patients admitted to their emergency room by 10 a.m.
Beth Cranson, a representative from Spectrum Health, said that they were getting calls about falls from all over West Michigan.
"Over the last 10 years, 57 percent of the people who showed up in the Butterworth emergency room and were then admitted sustained their injury in a fall," said Cranson. "So serious injuries from a fall aren’t uncommon. Although today is clearly off the charts."
Similarly, Jamie Allen from Metro Health said that they've seen "a massive up tick [sic] in patients coming into the Emergency Department due to slip-and-falls." On Tuesday afternoon around 4:30 p.m., they had 30 slip-and-fall patients at the hospital.
Spectrum Health is advising people with minor slip-and-fall injuries to consider using a non-emergency facility like urgent care centers of MedNow online where they are likely to be seen more quickly.
The slippery conditions prompted Grand Rapids Public Schools and Grand Valley State University to cancel their evening events and classes.
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