Spend Christmas with your family, not at The Alfred
A surge in highly preventable serious injuries in the lead up to Christmas has specialists at The Alfred urging Victorians to plan ahead this holiday season.
Alfred Health trauma deputy director Dr Simon Hendel said nearly 400 people were admitted to The Alfred’s emergency and trauma centre last December, 157 of which were a result of road trauma.
“So much of what we see at this time of the year is entirely preventable, which is really frustrating,” Dr Hendel said.
“It’s often people taking completely unnecessary risks on the road and unfortunately at this time of year drugs and alcohol play a major part in many admissions.
“Last December, 41 patients were admitted with a blood alcohol level above .05 – these are cases that would never have happened if people planned ahead and avoided putting themselves – and others – in harm’s way.
“These are injuries that include severe damage to internal organs, broken bones and brain damage, and often require long, painful rehabilitation periods. In many cases the injuries sustained are life-threatening.
“This is a time of the year where people should be spending time with their loved ones, not lying in a hospital bed, staring at a vastly different future to the one they had planned.”
But the spike in admissions isn’t limited to road trauma.
Alfred Health emergency director Associate Professor De Villiers Smit said the holiday period often brings a wide range of serious injuries.
“Unfortunately, this part of the year as really the ’silly season’, A/Prof Smit said.
“People do things they don’t do at any other time of the year… like diving off piers into shallow water, enabling severe sunburn, getting dehydrated at parties and raves, and driving while under the influence.
“In December last year we also treated 149 people for injuries sustained from falls. These included people cleaning out their gutters and putting up Christmas lights.”
A/Prof Smit urged the community to help themselves and play it safe this Christmas.
“We’re well prepared for our busiest time of year, but we are urging everyone to spend their Christmas and New Year with their loved ones, not our wonderful staff,” he said.
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