Dozens Treated At Local Hospitals Following Massive Pa. Turnpike Pileup
By Stephanie Stahl
ABINGTON, Pa., (CBS) -- Dozens of accident victims were taken to local hospitals for evaluation following the massive pile-up on the Pennsylvania Turnpike (See Related Story).
Several multi-vehicle crashes, involving as many as 100 cars and dozens of tractor-trailers stretched over several miles of icy highway, shut down the turnpike for most of the day Friday between Willow Grove and Bensalem, Pa.
Sixteen patients were treated here at Abington Memorial Hospital. Tonight, all of them, except for one, have been released. The person who is still here was admitted for observation.
Patients here that were at that accident scene say this is a Valentine's Day they will never forget.
"I am so grateful. All I know is there are angels around me," Marge Brady said.
Marge was on her way home from work on the turnpike when cars started sliding and crashing. She was between two tractor trailers.
"I really thought it was all over. At that point I thought I was going to be smashed between these two tractor trailers and it's going to be over with," she said.
She survived with just minor injuries and was quickly reunited with her grateful family.
"I'm thankful, God took care of her," Marge's father Bill McDonough said.
Abington Hospital activated its emergency activation plan sending over a hundred medical personnel to the emergency department.
"As you might imagine, in a blunt trauma type of situation you're going to have a lot of soft tissue and bone type injuries," Dr. John Kelly said.
Dave Firina walked out of the hospital with a banged up hand, thankful for his air bag. He describes chaos and a long wait for emergency help.
"They couldn't seem to figure out how to send the ambulances there. They kept sending them down the other side of the road and there's a big barrier. I actually had to climb over the barrier as well as the other two people in the ambulance just to get to the ambulance," Firina said.
There was a lot of chaos earlier, fortunately though no serious injuries. Doctors here tell CBS 3 from the looks of that crash they were expecting to see a lot worse, fortunately, they did not.
