Tree limbs aren’t all that break in an ice storm. How to avoid common injuries.

Dr. Lauren Siewny, Emergency Department medical director at Duke University Hospital, has a failsafe forecast around winter weather: When freezing rain falls, so do people.

Siewny — pronounced SEE-nee — began seeing patients not long after a winter storm began moving into the Triangle on Saturday. Fractures, sprains, head injuries, hypothermia, frostbite, contusions from car crashes, carbon monoxide poisoning. The injuries are as predictable as winter weather news story clichés, except the “white stuff” of her trade is gauze and medical tape.

“All that is to be expected,” Siewny said Sunday, when she was working her second storm shift in emergency.

While other businesses scale back or shut down when inclement weather moves in, the emergency department pulls in additional resources, Siewny said. The cabinets are stocked with extra supplies and there is food for the beefed-up staff that will be needed to tend to people who obsessively shovel their driveways or underestimate the effects of frigid temperatures on bare skin.

While Siewny and her staff are ready and willing to treat anyone who overdoes it during or after a storm, she offers this advice for anyone who would rather spend their snow day watching the weather than the clock on the wall in the ER waiting room.

• Avoid any unnecessary travel. Staying home prevents — or at least limits — exposure to all kinds of weather-related calamities, including car crashes and slips on parking-lot ice.

• If you go outside, wear sturdy footwear with good traction.

• “Dress in layers,” Siewny said. “And heed the advice your grandmother gave you to protect your face, head and hands. And don’t stay outside too long.”

Remember the first people who show up at the emergency room during a storm are the ones who go out to clear the driveway when it’s icy, Siewny said. The most common medical emergencies from that happen when the shoveler slips and falls, or has a cardiac event.

“I think if I could leave anybody with a message, I’d say, ‘Slow down. Stay warm. Avoid unnecessary travel. But do not hesitate to seek care. Call 911. It may take longer for emergency services to get to you, but it’s still safer than trying to tackle the roads yourself.”

This story is available free to all readers thanks to financial support from the Hartfield Foundation and Green South Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. If you would like to help support local journalism, please consider a digital subscription, which you can get here.