Local medical staff train for radiation contamination cases In
the medical field, doctors have to be prepared for the routine
and the irregular. That's why staff at Gundersen Lutheran
Hospital in La Crosse were busy this week, sharpening their
skills in case of a rare emergency situation. “I'm doctor Copps,
I'm one of the emergency room doctors,” said Dr. David Copps, an
emergency physician with Gundersen Lutheran. It's the challenge
emergency room doctors face, how to treat patients quickly and
safely. “Any head injury [or] loss of consciousness?” Copps
asked Tri-State paramedics. “Nope, isolated injury,” said the
paramedic.” But how do doctors treat patients with a problem
they've rarely or sometimes have never seen before? “He is
radioactive,” the paramedic told Copps. Copps and about a dozen
other staff members at Gundersen are participating in a planned
exercise to brush up on their skills in treating patients with
radiation contamination. “It's a contact issue,” said Copps. “So
if you touch something th