'You could see it in their hair': Lee Memorial's response to mercury exposure

In a split second, Lee Memorial Hospital went into a mass casualty triage after three college students walked into the ER for mercury exposure.

Lee Health's Emergency Management Coordinator, Michael Hanna, says while this is rare, they're trained for situations like this. He got the phone call of the exposure around 5 p.m. Thursday.

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That's when he jumped into what's called a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS).

"I went through all the hazards for it and then told them [staff] they had to be deconned, they had to be taken back outside," Hanna said.

The college students were picking up a projector at the Calusa Planetarium when a bulb broke. That bulb had mercury inside.

"You could see it in their hair when they would rub their hair," Hanna said.

When the patients were outside, a Hazmat team was waiting.

In the MSDS, it said water and soap should be used to decontaminate them.

Hanna says this had to be done three times because they kept testing positive.

Inside the hospital, they shut down the ER.

"They already made their entrance into the ER, which you still have air conditioners and stuff like that," Hanna explaining why they closed it. "There could have been a possibility of contamination in the ER itself."

Hanna says they removed the chairs the students were sitting in and cleaned the ER. No one else was exposed.

"We have equipment that we have in trailers that are mobile at each hospital," Hanna said. "This kind of exposure — very, very rarely."

Though rare, it can happen, because mercury is still used in some products.

"There are still a lot of older light bulbs materials, particularly translucent old tube bulbs, they still contain mercury," said Florida Gulf Coast University engineering professor emeritus Tom Missimer. "There are pretty strict rules the EPA on mercury-contained materials and exposure to human health."

Missimer says short-term exposure isn't as concerning, but still needs to be treated.

"They can create some temporary spike in say blood concentration of mercury and that kind of thing," he explained. "The biggest potential exposure is usually through food and breathing."

The professor says he sees this incident as an important lesson for the public.

"You can get yourself exposed by accidentally handling them [light bulbs] badly," Missimer said. "When you handle them, be careful because you can get exposed to mercury."

The three college students are out of the hospital.