GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — It’s Independence Day weekend, and local emergency room doctors are urging people to celebrate responsibly.
Emergency room visits can rise by 50% compared to a normal day on July 4th, that’s according to Thedacare ER Doc David Hale.
“People know that you’re not supposed to fire the bigger fireworks,” said Hale. “But people don’t realize that even the smaller sparklers can cause a lot of injury.”
It’s not just fireworks that lead to the spike in ER visits.
“It’s anything from heat exhaustion to motor vehicle accidents to alcohol poisoning, we see the whole gamut,” said Dr. Kyle McCarty with HSHS St. Mary’s and St. Vincent Hospitals.
Doctors urge you to watch your alcohol intake, keep hydrated, and take care around fireworks, even sparklers.
It’s not the worst day for ER visits, however–that’s apparently the day right before Thanksgiving.
“We have a lot of individuals traveling home to visit family, and the roads are worse,” explained McCarty.
That, combined with relatives taking older family members to the ER for dire, and sometimes overlooked, medical issues, and cooking-related accidents, makes the Wednesday before Thanksgiving a busier day than the 4th of July.
