160 patients admitted to HCMC and Regions Health Partners after slipping on ice

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Hennepin Healthcare and Regions Health Partners reported more than 160 patients admitted for falls on ice Monday. 

Over 100 of those patients were from Regions Health Partners while about 70 of them were from HCMC as pedestrians struggled to balance on the widespread ice.

Officials encouraged pedestrians to wear proper footwear and to walk slowly to avoid falling on the ice. 

HCMC told FOX 9 that they've seen 10 times the normal amount of people because of ice-related injuries Monday. 

One patient, Terrance Williams, was wearing a cast and holding back tears Monday. 

"My leg just...I never felt that type of pain in my life," he said. "I hit my head when I fell, my body went to the left and my foot was hanging like that." 

Williams said the incident happened while he was dodging a car slipping down an icy north Minneapolis street this morning. The driver took off after the incident and a good Samaritan took him to HCMC. 

"I'm just saying to myself, when the pain kicked in, I thought I was dying. I never experienced like that," Williams said. 

Another Good Samaritan, Frah Adi, took a woman to safety after her wheelchair couldn't make it down an ice-covered sidewalk in Minneapolis' Phillips Neighborhood. 

"It's very dangerous," said Nurse Jennifer Herrmeyer. "We've had more ambulances come in than in many years." 

Herrmeyer says the normal case load for ice-related injuries is between five and 10 patients. 

"Hitting hands, breaking hands, breaking legs, sometimes more serious and hitting their head," Herrmeyer added. 

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