By Lori Ehde
Luverne's Carol Morgan joins the long list of injured who have fallen victim to slippery ice.
After a dinner party last week, she carefully shuffled out to her car along with several of her friends. Suddenly, she found herself on the ground with a broken wrist.
"One minute you're upright, and the next minute - actually next second - you're not," she said Monday.
"I guess I wasn't wearing sensible shoes. You know, when you put on a dress, you're not as likely to wear the big cleated shoes."
She had surgery Monday to reset her wrist, and she's still trying to figure out how to put in her contact lenses in with one hand.
But, things could always be worse.
Terry Johnson had to cancel an upcoming golf vacation in Palm Springs since a mishap on his driveway in Luverne Monday.
"I was just going to swing the door shut on my pickup, and my feet slid out from under me," he said.
He landed on his elbow, fracturing his elbow and dislocating his shoulder. His arm is now in a sling.
"My driveway faces to the north, and it's just one solid sheet of ice," he said.
Medical clinics busy with ice victims
Injuries as serious as Morgan's and Johnson's have required medical attention, and that's caused busy waiting rooms in medical clinics.
Morgan was referred to Sioux Valley’s Vande Mark Orthopedic Specialists, Sioux Falls, where switchboard receptionist Connie Byers said scheduling has been difficult.
"It's to the point now where, especially after last weekend’s bad weather, I’ve dreaded coming to work because I know it's going to be so busy," she said.
She said most ice injuries are to wrists, knees and tailbones.
"One of our own receptionists slipped, and then a gentleman stopped to help her, and he fell," she said. "It's just nuts how slippery it's been."
She added that the ice has caused motor vehicle injuries as well, further complicating schedules for busy doctors.
Luverne Medical Center and Luverne Community Hospital haven't reported a large number of ice injuries.
Often the patients seeking care from the local emergency room are referred directly to orthopedic doctors or other specialists.
Chiropractic clinics are also seeing heavier patient traffic due to slippery ice. Dr. Bill Preuss saw six ice injury patients on Monday alone, and nearly a third of all his patients the last couple weeks have been ice victims.
"Sometimes it's their heinies, sometimes it's their upper back or lower back, depending on how they fall," he said, adding that people of all ages are coming in with ice injuries.
"There is no age or sex discrimination; ice doesn't care."
He said about half of the ice victims he sees haven’t actually fallen, but they've wrenched their backs in the process of regaining balance.
"My patients call it 'the dance,'" he said.
Many of the people seeking chiropractic attention aren't critically hurt, but they're checking the damages.
"What they're asking is, 'Gee, did I really hurt something?"
Preuss said a good rule of thumb to follow is if there’s no significant improvement after two to three days to a suspected pulled muscle, professional help may be needed.
Ice melt is hot commodity
In addition to common-sense caution while negotiating slippery sidewalks, another way to combat slick surfaces is with de-icing agents.
According to area businesses, everyone’s had the same idea, and it's been hard to keep the product on the shelves.
After being sold out for nearly a week, M&M Distributing, Luverne, received a small shipment Friday, and store manager Merlin Lopau said he expects more to come later this week.
Luverne True Value has had similar difficulty keeping ice melt stocked. Store owner Mark Novotny has made additional trips to Brookings, S.D., to the True Value distribution center to keep the product stocked.
Both stores have noticed other winter products, such as ice chippers, roof rakes and shovels disappearing off the shelves this winter.
Meanwhile, Lopau said people have been creative melting ice with other products.
For example, he said lawn fertilizer works well, except that it can be tracked indoors. Also, he said water softener salt works, too, except that it’s hard on cement and lawns.
"You improvise, I guess, when there's nothing else," Lopau said.