Busy ERs make room after wave of shooting victims last weekend

DES MOINES, Iowa — Local emergency rooms are always busy, with something new every day. But with a wave of victims from shootings this last weekend local hospitals had to deal with extra chaos.

A shooting Monday morning sent two police officers to the hospital, one shot in the arm and one shot in the head. Both are expected to survive, with the officer shot in the head listed in critical but stable condition after surgery. One of those officers went to MercyOne, the other went to UnityPoint.

“We see illness and trauma of all varieties that are equally as life threatening on a day in and day out basis. Those events and illnesses and particular stories most of the time don’t make the news. But for us, whether they make the news or not, it’s still business as usual,” said Dr. Clint Hawthorne, M.D., the Medical Director of the Adult Emergency Department at UnityPoint.

Dr. Hawthorne said that those medical professionals who work in emergency medicine thrive off of the randomness day to day. But that randomness comes with a plan behind it.

Just recently, emergency medical personnel from around the city participated in a mass casualty exercise.

“There was just a drill within the past month with the City of Des Moines and law enforcement,” said Dr. Sydney Leach, M.D., MercyOne’s Emergency Medical Director. “So, we work with law enforcement and city officials and drill with other metro hospitals in the area about if we have certain types of episodes or incidents, how do we care for those patients?”

Dr. Leach said they will practice events involving injuries, carbon monoxide leaks and other types of health issues. Both emergency rooms said that all their staff are well prepared and well trained.

“We’re here to serve the public. We’re here to provide shelter, care and refuge to patients in their times of greatest need. And that’s why we went into medicine. We do that on Monday. We do that on Sunday. We do that on Christmas Day. That’s just who we are,” said Dr. Hawthorne.

Both said that one way the public can help is to be educated on what warrants a visit to the emergency room and what can wait to see a different professional at another clinic.

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