Piedmont Northside, Emergency Department at Piedmont
August 2023
Piedmont Northside, Emergency Department
at Piedmont
Emergency
Piedmont Columbus Regional Northside Campus
Columbus
,
GA
United States
Ema Zeitlin, RN
Becky Sergent-Riggs, RN
Sydney Koch, RN
Micah Muessig-Montebell, RN
Becky Sergent-Riggs, RN
Sydney Koch, RN
Micah Muessig-Montebell, RN
A Friday morning brunch was anything but normal for four emergency room nurses dining at a local restaurant off of Whittlesey Boulevard – when a silver SUV crashed through the building.
They had just finished a 12-hour shift at Piedmont Columbus Regional Northside. The four were celebrating a big milestone of one nurse completing her last shift at the hospital.
“We were just eating breakfast, we were just talking and then we all just heard the loud crash,” said Ema Zeitlin, an ER nurse.
The SUV shattered the glass and brick inserting itself right into the dining room of First Watch, a breakfast café in North Columbus.
Once they realized the severity of the situation, Ema Zeitlin, Becky Sergent-Riggs, Sydney Koch, and Micah Muessig-Montebell used their medical training and assisted as many people as possible. One woman was nearly pinned underneath the SUV.
“There was a server beside me and I was like, ‘sir, I know you’re not a nurse, but today you’re going to be, and I’m gonna talk you through what we’re going to do,'” said Sergent-Riggs, an ER Nurse with 18 years of experience. “They had our backs 100 percent.”
One of the nurses is still going through her orientation at the hospital. She says this experience reaffirms why she chose this career path.
“I’ve always loved and cared about people, and I wanted to keep people safe and having the opportunity to do that even when I’m off the clock,” said Zeitlin. “Just having that real experience was really great for me.”
Koch has been a registered nurse for about a year and says that regardless of her training, nothing could have mentally prepared her for what she saw that morning.
“If you ask any good nurse, they never feel prepared for something like this,” said Koch. “I think the cool thing about nursing is we’re all constantly learning and trying to figure out what’s happening day by day because we never know what we’re walking into.”
Though every day is filled with saving lives and making critical decisions within the walls of a hospital, this time, the nurses brought the hospital to First Watch.
“Part of us were kind of always expecting the unexpected, but definitely not when we’re sitting out for breakfast after work,” said Muessig-Montebell.
First responders say the four victims who were transported from the scene are in stable condition.
Although it is unclear as to when the wall will be repaired, First Watch continues to operate during normal business hours.
They had just finished a 12-hour shift at Piedmont Columbus Regional Northside. The four were celebrating a big milestone of one nurse completing her last shift at the hospital.
“We were just eating breakfast, we were just talking and then we all just heard the loud crash,” said Ema Zeitlin, an ER nurse.
The SUV shattered the glass and brick inserting itself right into the dining room of First Watch, a breakfast café in North Columbus.
Once they realized the severity of the situation, Ema Zeitlin, Becky Sergent-Riggs, Sydney Koch, and Micah Muessig-Montebell used their medical training and assisted as many people as possible. One woman was nearly pinned underneath the SUV.
“There was a server beside me and I was like, ‘sir, I know you’re not a nurse, but today you’re going to be, and I’m gonna talk you through what we’re going to do,'” said Sergent-Riggs, an ER Nurse with 18 years of experience. “They had our backs 100 percent.”
One of the nurses is still going through her orientation at the hospital. She says this experience reaffirms why she chose this career path.
“I’ve always loved and cared about people, and I wanted to keep people safe and having the opportunity to do that even when I’m off the clock,” said Zeitlin. “Just having that real experience was really great for me.”
Koch has been a registered nurse for about a year and says that regardless of her training, nothing could have mentally prepared her for what she saw that morning.
“If you ask any good nurse, they never feel prepared for something like this,” said Koch. “I think the cool thing about nursing is we’re all constantly learning and trying to figure out what’s happening day by day because we never know what we’re walking into.”
Though every day is filled with saving lives and making critical decisions within the walls of a hospital, this time, the nurses brought the hospital to First Watch.
“Part of us were kind of always expecting the unexpected, but definitely not when we’re sitting out for breakfast after work,” said Muessig-Montebell.
First responders say the four victims who were transported from the scene are in stable condition.
Although it is unclear as to when the wall will be repaired, First Watch continues to operate during normal business hours.