The Zern Family Story
Teamwork is Key to Coordinated Trauma Program
Summertime evokes simple pleasures like sipping lemonade, walking barefoot, catching fireflies and enjoying long, lazy days outdoors. With the rising temperatures also comes an increased risk of certain emergencies that occur more often during the summer.
“Seasonal activities bring seasonal injuries,” explains Lanyce Horn, MSN, RN, Trauma Program Manager at Lancaster General Hospital. “Bicycle and motorcycle accidents are more frequent, as are skateboarding injuries. We also experience an increase in farming accidents.”
Other summertime emergencies include severe sunburns, heatstroke, lightening strikes, allergic reactions to bee stings or insect bites, near drownings, and injuries that are sustained from people diving into pools, or other bodies of water that are too shallow or have hidden hazards like rocks.
No matter the season, treatment at an accredited trauma center by a multidisciplinary team of trauma specialists can make the difference between life or death, permanent injury or a full recovery. This fact was recently driven home to the Zern family of Central PA.
Brian Zern, a construction superintendent, was at a job site in Lancaster County, when without warning, workers carrying an industrial-sized sheet of drywall 25 feet above him lost their grip. The drywall fell vertically, hitting Brian in his left shoulder and knocking him to the ground with the impact of 800 pounds.
Brian did not lose consciousness but felt a tremendous wave of pain go through his body. Doctors later explained that he suffered a compression trauma — an initial shock, followed by waves of impact throughout the body. Brian was transported by ambulance to Lancaster General Hospital.
“When I arrived at the emergency department, Brian’s doctors had completed an initial evaluation, stabilized his neck and transported him to a neuro trauma unit,” says his wife, Lynette. “They directed me to his room, where a team of doctors and nurses were working on him like a well-oiled machine. Everyone had something to do and they were never in each other’s way. It was amazing.”
Brian spent a total of 3.5 days in the hospital. During that time, his medical team included specialists from the trauma team, cardiologists from The Heart Group for his bruised heart; orthopedic surgeons from Orthopedic Associates of Lancaster to treat eight fractures; a neurosurgeon from Lancaster NeuroScience & Spine Associates and more. “As a superintendent, I know what it takes to coordinate a group and to organize multiple tasks. I was impressed by the team’s ability to pull together all the necessary players and to move things along in such a well coordinated way,” he says.
Today, Brian is back home, doing daily therapy to regain the use of his left arm. He and Lynette share an appreciation for the simple pleasures of summer that they will enjoy this year thanks to the expert care he received.
Lancaster General Hospital is home to Lancaster County’s only accredited Level II Trauma Center.