Suburban Hospital nurse Stephanie Machiran left her Mount Airy home at 3:30 a.m. Saturday in order to make her 7 a.m. shift at the Bethesda facility.
She had arranged for a ride with co-worker Taryn Giza and Giza’s husband Jonathan Giza, an ambulance captain with the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service, but had to reach a main road in order to meet them.
With snow falling and the wind whirling, Machiran trekked a mile and a half to the main road with the help of her husband, who carved out footprints in the snow to make her walk easier. She made it to Suburban safely and hasn’t left the hospital since.
For many hospital staff, including more than 250 who slept at the Bethesda facility this weekend, the blizzard that pummeled the area was a major test.
Suburban Hospital’s Emergency Department has seen an almost non-stop barrage of patients since the storm began Friday.
Suburban Hospital spokesperson Ronna Borenstein-Levy said Monday the Emergency Department remained “extremely busy.” The hospital has treated at least three heart attack victims related to snow shoveling.
Borenstein-Levy said she wasn’t immediately sure of the condition of those patients. A Montgomery County spokesperson said Monday the county isn’t aware of any storm-related deaths.
The county will remain under a General Emergency through midnight Monday.
Getting to those in need of emergency medical help was also made tougher by the blizzard, even after the snow stopped falling early Sunday.
A military tactical vehicle on-loan from the Maryland National Guard assists first responders on a Monday morning call on Starmont Road in Bethesda. Via Pete Piringer
At about 5 a.m. Monday, first responders needed help from a county plow truck and Light Medium Tactical Vehicle (LMTV) on loan from the Maryland National Guard to reach the home of a patient on Starmont Road in Bethesda. The plow truck and LMTV were attached to Bethesda Fire Station 26 on Democracy Boulevard for the duration of the storm.
According to fire department spokesperson Pete Piringer, it hasn’t been unusual for plow trucks and LMTV’s to accompany first responders to calls over the weekend. But in the case of the Monday morning call, it took about two hours to get to the patient after the plow truck got stuck in the snow.
“All the while, units were keeping up communications with the patient,” Piringer said.
The man was taken to Suburban Hospital. Piringer didn’t know his condition or the reason for the call.
