Nurses take action after SUV crashes into Georgia breakfast restaurant

Columbus, Georgia (WRBL) — Friday morning brunch was anything but ordinary for four emergency room nurses when they were dining at a local restaurant off Whittlesey Boulevard. Just then, a silver SUV crashed into the building.

They had just completed a 12-hour stint at the Columbus Regional Northside, Piedmont. The four were celebrating a big milestone as one of the nurses completed her last duty at the hospital.

“We were just eating breakfast and just talking, and then we heard a loud crash,” said ER nurse Emma Zeitlin.

The SVU smashed glass and brick and plunged straight into the dining room of North Columbus breakfast café First Watch.

Emma Zeitlin, Becky Sargent Riggs, Sidney Koch and Mika Mussig Monteverl realized the seriousness of the situation and used their medical training to help as many people as possible. A woman was trapped under an SUV.

There was a waiter next to me and I said, “Doctor, I know you are not a nurse, but today you are going to be one. said Sargent Riggs, an ER nurse with “They supported us 100 percent.”

One of the nurses is still undergoing orientation at the hospital. She says this experience of hers reaffirmed why she chose this career path.

“‘I’ve always loved and cared about people, and I wanted to have the opportunity to keep people safe and to do that, even outside of work hours,'” Zeitlin said. “It was really good for me just to have that real experience.”

Koch has been a registered nurse for about a year and says that even with her training, she wasn’t mentally prepared for what she saw that morning.

“When you ask a good nurse, you never feel prepared for something like this,” says Koch. “I think the great thing about nursing is that we are always learning and trying to understand what is going on every day because we never know what we are facing. is.”

Every day is filled with saving lives and making important decisions within the walls of the hospital, but this time the nurses have taken the hospital to First Watch.

“Some of us have always expected the unexpected to happen, but that definitely isn’t the case when you’re sitting outside for breakfast after work,” Mussig said. Mr Montbell said.

Four victims who were transported from the scene are in stable condition, according to first responders.

It’s unclear when the walls will be repaired, but First Watch remains open during normal business hours.