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Overcrowded hospitals also dealing with injuries from ice
Slips and falls are common during the winter, but this year, it’s contributing to the overloading of hospitals.
MINNEAPOLIS — It’s that time of year again when you’ve got to watch your step.
HCMC in downtown Minneapolis is among the many facilities seeing their usual increase in slip-and-fall injuries, due to the snowy and icy winter conditions. Dr. Stephen Smith, an emergency physician with Hennepin Healthcare, said these patients have flooded into the Emergency Department for roughly the past month.
“Lots of fractures. Lots of wrist fractures, especially. Ankle fractures. People fall and hit their head,” Smith said. “Falls, in general, even without the ice, are one of the most common things we see.”
In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 800,000 patients are hospitalized every year because of falls, often impacting older people. Falls are also the most common cause of traumatic brain injuries.
“And when ice season comes, it’s that much more likely to happen,” Smith said. “even among young healthy people.”
It’s certainly nothing new for emergency departments to see more people slipping and falling during the winter season.
However, this year, Smith said these injuries are adding to an already extreme workload, as hospitals across the country experience a crisis in capacity. As the pandemic and other seasonal illnesses continue to fill hospital beds, there are also widespread staffing shortages.
Just this week, a Hennepin Healthcare physician penned an Op-Ed in the Star Tribune, titled: “On health care front lines, we are not OK.”
“The entire country is overloaded with emergency medicine patients. Many acute care nurses quit the job during COVID. Hospitals can’t discharge patients to nursing homes because the nursing homes are full, the group homes are full, psychiatry inpatient is full, and the hospitals can’t discharge patients. We can’t get patients upstairs, so our ED is full of patients who need to be admitted,” Smith said. “And this is true for every department across the cities and the country. It’s a national problem.”
Smith said that HCMC has had to turn down some transfer patients from other hospitals – transfers they would normally accommodate, if not for capacity shortages.
“And now we have all these people slipping and falling,” Smith said, “and that just adds to the overcrowding.”
Smith offered a few suggestions to avoid falls: Outfit your shoes with traction cleats like Yaktrax, clear your walks and driveway, and add strength exercises to your routine to improve your balance.
Hennepin Healthcare also published this guide in December about how to “walk like a penguin” in icy conditions.
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“Although it was chaotic, there was some of that chaos that might sway some people to another side,” Jake Slack, a senior at the University of St. Thomas, said.
MINNEAPOLIS — Tuning out politics with just weeks until an election can admittedly be difficult, but if you thought young voters weren’t paying attention – think again.
“I actually did watch the whole thing with some of my roommates,” Peter Kapsner, a junior at the University of St. Thomas who leans towards former President Donald Trump, said. “I thought it was really good debate. Both candidates had good game plans that they stuck to.”
“I just feel like it was much more of a debate than what we saw last time,” Deya Ahmed, a sophomore at the U of M, said.
Many we spoke with said they watched parts or the entirety of the debate.
“I think what really needed to be done was to bring excitement to voting, which I don’t think happened during the debate, especially for the youth vote,” Drue Bower, a first-year grad student at the U of M, said.
No matter who we spoke with, students on every side of the political aisle told us they were watching, forming new opinions, or deepening their connection to thoughts they already had.
“I do think I’m going to end up voting for Kamala when the election comes around,” Gavan Townsend, a third-year student at the U, said.
“I would say I’m more towards the right,” Yaphet Gg, a third-year student at the U of M, said. “I think he’s generally doing a good job of trying to attack Kamala for his base,”
That also includes voters who may have fallen more into the undecided camp.
“I was kind of leaning more towards Trump, but this kind of has me thinking a little bit more about, like, how level-headed the Harris campaign is,” U of M freshman Chase Ben-Avraham said.
What could sway young voters, they say – Taylor Swift’s endorsement of the Harris/Walz campaign, though not all agree.
“If Trump starts attacking her, they’re going to react and go, ‘Okay, this is it, I’m voting,'” Henry Kopp, a sophomore at the U, said.
“If you’re a Hulk Hogan, Harrison Butker or Kid Rock fan, you know, you’re probably already leaning right,” Benjaman Lindeen, a fourth-year student at the U of M, said. “If you’re, you know, really swayed by what Steve Kerr or Stephen Curry or Taylor Swift say, you’re probably already voting left. So I think from even a statistic standpoint, it’s probably marginal at best.”
With young voters paying close attention, they say you should do the same.
“Although it was chaotic, there was some of that chaos that might sway some people to another side,” Jake Slack, a senior at St. Thomas, said.
Synchronize your watches! The award-winning best new musical sets its destination to the Orpheum.
MINNEAPOLIS — You don’t need to build a flux capacitator to travel back in time and relive an ’80s phenomenon.
“Back to the Future the Musical,” which won the 2022 Olivier Award for Best New Musical, is coming to the historic Orpheum Theatre in downtown Minneapolis at the beginning of fall.
The London’s West End and Broadway show is based on the 1985 blockbuster film that spawned two sequels: “Back to the Future Part II” in 1989 and “Back to the Future Part III” in 1990. All three films combined grossed nearly a billion dollars.
The award-winning musical stars Caden Brauch as Marty McFly, Don Stephenson as Doc Brown and Ethan Rogers as Biff Tannen.
“Back to the Future the Musical” officially premiered at the Manchester Opera House on March 11, 2020. It then had a huge run at London’s West End beginning in 2021 and hit Broadway in August of 2023.
The musical is directed by Tony Award-winner John Rando with original music by multi-Grammy-winners Alan Silvestri (“Avengers: Endgame”) and Glen Ballard (Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror”), alongside songs from the movie including “The Power of Love,” “Johnny B. Goode” and “Back in Time.”
“Back to the Future the Musical” will play at the Orpheum from Tuesday, Sept. 10 to Sunday, Sept. 22.
Tickets, which start at $50, will go on sale at HennepinTheatreTrust.org on Friday, June 14, 2024, at 10 a.m.
The production contains flashing lights, strobe effects, pyrotechnics and is recommended for ages 6 and up.
Its run time is 2 hours and 35 minutes and includes one intermission.
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Marina Dougall, 36, was last seen in Minneapolis in September of last year but wasn’t reported missing until May 2024.
ANOKA COUNTY, Minn. — The Anoka County Sheriff’s Office is asking the public to help find a missing Anoka County woman who they believe is without critical medication.
Marina Dougall, 36, was last seen in Minneapolis in September of last year but wasn’t reported missing until May 2024. Police said her family hasn’t heard from her since she was last seen.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension released a statement Wednesday, saying Dougall was known to frequent the Franklin Avenue North area of Minneapolis as well as places throughout Anoka County and across the Twin Cities metro. Investigators said she may have been in the area of Burnett County, Wisconsin last September, before being dropped off at the Norwoood Inn in Roseville.
MISSING: Investigators believe Marina Dougall may have been in the in the Burnett County, Wisconsin, area Sept. 20-22, 2023, and then dropped off at the Norwood Inn in Roseville. Anyone with information on Marina Dougall’s whereabouts is urged to call 911. pic.twitter.com/HhfAeFGiJZ
— Minnesota BCA (@MnDPS_BCA) September 11, 2024
The BCA said Dougall has a medical condition that requires medication, and that she also has a history of mental health and substance abuse issues.
Dougall is described as 5’9 and 140 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes. She also has a chipped front tooth, flower tattoos on her right hand and left shoulder, a snowflake tattoo on her right abdomen and a large tattoo on her back.
The BCA added Dougall was born in Russia and speaks with a slight accent.
If you’ve seen Dougall or know any information about her whereabouts, you’re urged to call 911 or contact the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office at 763-324-5209.
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