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In tourism speak, Winterlude is a unique winter festival that “transforms Ottawa into a winter wonderland.”

But hospital emergency staff and paramedics have another word for it.

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“We call it fracturelude,” says Gary Chamberlain, with Ottawa Paramedic Service. That word echoes throughout the city’s emergency health-care community, although some prefer “splinterlude”.

Ottawa’s popular annual winter festival of ice, snow and Beavertails, which ends its three-weekend run this weekend, has gained a reputation among emergency health workers as a lesser festival of broken bones.

“The ice isn’t very soft,” Chamberlain said.

In February last year, The Ottawa Hospital’s emergency departments treated 522 people in need of care after falls involving ice and snow. How many of those were Winterlude related? It’s hard to say. In January 2019, when the canal was open, but prior to Winterlude, 491 people were treated for falls related to ice and snow.

At CHEO, rates of emergency department visits for falls involving ice skates or on snow and ice go up markedly during days when Winterlude is on, according to statistics provided by the hospital. The hospital recorded 84 such injuries during Winterlude 2019 and 80 a year earlier.

Of course, Ottawa winters offer no end of opportunities for people to fall on ice and snow, but being home to (arguably) the world’s longest skating rink brings a special challenge.

Photo by Tony Caldwell / Postmedia

Ottawa paramedics, who are on the ice with an ATV-like vehicle during Winterlude, responded to 40 calls on the canal during the 2018-2019 skating season, one of the lengthiest in recent years. The vast majority of those were for fractures, sprains, strains, dislocations and head injuries. Of those, more than 20 were transported to local hospitals.

Some are taken to hospital by ambulance. Others get there on their own.