Our fragile bones are no match for city’s icy sidewalks
The young man was in a squatting position, his arms moving rhythmically from side to side. His dexterity was such that he frantically kicked out one leg, then the other. With his oversized Cossack hat, he looked like he could be auditioning for the Bolshoi. He wasn’t. He was in the midst of falling.
It was quite the spectacle. Passersby were in awe, ready to applaud his dazzling artistry. But then disaster struck. His legs crumpled and he ended up on his backside. Humiliated, perhaps, but, mercifully, uninjured.
Our city’s icy sidewalks claimed yet another victim. Frankly, only the most seasoned and eagleeyed of Cirque du Soleil-calibre acrobats would have been able to withstand that patch of obscured black ice downtown.
Blessed are those who are able to walk unimpeded along the sidewalks of some of the demerged boroughs or in Anjou — where mayor Luis Miranda was pilloried and fined for having the temerity to clean up streets and sidewalks without the permission of Montreal’s Snow Czar (sticking to the Russian theme), Jean-François Parenteau.
Perhaps our powers that be should consider making the Paul Simon tune Slip Slidin’ Away Montreal’s official anthem.
And with heated sidewalks now on the back burner, Montrealers better brace themselves for a rash of broken bones to come.
Urgences Santé has reported an upsurge of incidents of late related to the perilous state of our sidewalks.
Dr. Mitch Shulman, like most local emergency room physicians, has dealt with more than his fair share of broken ankles, arms and wrists.
“All ages can fall, unfortunately,” says Shulman, who has been handling emergency room situations for more than 30 years at the Montreal General and Royal Victoria hospitals. “The ones at most risk are usually the frail and the elderly with underlying bone problems. Yet even a young person in the best of shape, but under the wrong circumstances, can take quite the traumatic tumble.
“The other thing we see a fair amount of are people who don’t actually break anything, but who fall on their backsides, which can lead to severe back issues down the road. Or they slip and fall on their heads and suffer mild concussions. These people then have to be wise in how they later manage these conditions before they get worse and worse. And again, that’s no respecter of age — that affects all.”
Shulman does note, though, that the number of injuries could be far higher, but for the fact many frail and elderly with mobility issues don’t dare venture outside to challenge the sidewalks these days.
“The people we tend to see are those who have to be outside — kids rushing off to school, parents rushing their kids to daycare and people rushing off to work.”
Other than becoming a hermit and staying indoors for the winter, there are ways to avoid doing unintended triple Salchow on ice before coming crashing down.
One could take the mountainclimber approach and consider affixing a strip of steel studs to one’s boots — before the city considers outlawing this out of fear of permanently damaging streets and sidewalks. Shulman is an adherent of this approach, “largely because I, too, am absolutely terrified of falling.”
Or one could learn how to fall in a fashion where one would do the least amount of damage, by rolling properly or using one’s arms for protection. One can even be trained for that — provided one has the time to anticipate a fall. But that is rarely the case.
“Unfortunately, we don’t live in that perfect world where we are given a lot of lead time before a fall and the proper amount of time to react,” he says. “Life gets in the way.”
A form of amnesia is also at play here. Many of us seem to think this winter is the worst EVER and our streets and sidewalks have NEVER been this frightful. With the passage of time, we tend to forget we’ve had to weather our share of misery before.
On the other hand, there is no excusing the extreme tardiness factor in snow removal in much of the city this year.
Many Montrealers would like to believe they could avoid these issues if only they could spend the winter in the Bahamas or Barbados. One would think emergency room physicians would also welcome the opportunity to take their acts to the tropics.
“People fall all the time,” Shulman says. “You’d be surprised by the number of people I’ve seen who fall when it’s perfectly sunny and beautiful and when there’s no snow or ice on the ground, in the best of atmospheric conditions. I’m sure doctors in the South have seen patients who’ve tripped just walking in the sand on a beach.”
Shulman worries about other winter issues as well, such as people getting trapped in their vehicles during a snowstorm and people shovelling following a snowstorm.
“You wouldn’t believe the number of people we see every year with heart attacks triggered by shovelling,” he said.
“But each season brings its own special pleasures. Of course, in winter, we get a quadruple whammy. We get flu — which can worsen peoples’ other underlying health conditions. We get some patients who are trapped by the elements and can’t get to their regular clinic appointments, so their problems are made worse. Then we get asthma and bronchitis made even worse by the cold air.”
And the fourth? Crank up the Simon song: “You know the nearer your destination, the more you’re slip slidin’ away …”
Yet even a young person in the best of shape, but under the wrong circumstances, can take quite the traumatic tumble.