NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Doctors in the emergency room at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are seeing more patients in the summer than any other hospital in the region.
From motorcycle accidents to boating accidents, warm weather equals summer-related accidents.
It's called trauma season, and it peaks in July with the heaviest traffic on the Fourth of July weekend.
When something major happens to a person in Middle Tennessee, they are taken to Vanderbilt.
Dr. Ian Jones, Medical Director of Vanderbilt's Emergency Department, said, "We're the only big level one trauma center for 150 miles pretty much in any direction. You have to go up to Lexington, down to Memphis, down to Huntsville or over to Chattanooga or Johnson City to find a trauma center."
That, combined that with trauma season, and Vanderbilt's emergency room is packed.
"This is the time of year when people are out either on the lakes, in their cars or maybe doing things sometimes that they shouldn't be doing, and they get hurt," Jones said.
When Nashville's News 2 visited the ER on Friday, it was one of their busiest days this summer, but while the hospital staff is tending to the common summer emergencies, they're also dealing with another symptom of summer.
Jones said, "For whatever reason, there tends to be more violent crime, guns and knives this time of year."
ER doctors say a lot of common summer accidents are preventable, but when mixing heat, alcohol in some instances, and risky activities, a person could end up in the hospital.
Doctors say they're also seeing an increase of patients without insurance using the emergency room as their primary care.
