IBERIA PARISH — As people prepare to celebrate New Year’s Eve, emergency room staff across Iberia Parish are preparing for a long night.
Emergency rooms typically see a surge in patients during the holiday, making New Year’s Eve one of the busiest nights of the year.
“The emergency rooms are usually packed during New Year’s,” said Dr. Steve Morgan, emergency medicine medical director at Iberia Medical Center. “It’s during the holiday season, so we see a higher volume. Usually, there’s a little bit longer wait time because we’re always seeing higher acuity patients.”
Doctors say many of the injuries they treat on New Year’s Eve are preventable.
“New Year’s is very busy. There are four big trauma, or four big different types of injuries we see during New Year’s,” Morgan said. “One we see is firework injuries, very common. They involve hands, eyes, also the skin in general. A lot of times it’s when individuals mix fun with alcohol.”
Morgan warns that smaller fireworks can still cause serious harm.
“For some reason, everyone thinks the smaller the fireworks, the less likely they are to injure you, but those are the ones that get you,” he said.
Alcohol and drug use also contribute to many emergency room visits.
“Marijuana, prescription medications — all of those can cause a delay in reaction or delay in time,” Morgan said.
Falls and burn injuries are also common, especially in rural parts of the parish.
“We see a lot of blunt trauma because everyone is running around in the dark and playing and having fun. People are tripping and falling,” Morgan said. “Here in New Iberia, we have a lot of rural areas that have ATVs and barn fires, and so we have a lot of burn injuries.”
As celebrations begin, doctors say making safer choices can help reduce the number of emergency room visits.
“If we’re looking to drink alcohol, making sure we have a designated driver or using some type of rideshare to help,” Morgan said. “Also, not mixing alcohol with fireworks because that becomes an issue.”
Morgan added there’s one warning he hears often before a trip to the hospital.
“If anyone says, you know, ‘hold my beer,’ that’s usually a sign of, you know, an ER visit,” he said.
Hospital staff say they are ready for New Year’s Eve but hope fewer people need emergency care as the new year begins.
