By Nick Hanson

U of M News Wire 

Most people watched TV, read the paper, or listened to the radio to get a sense of what it was like when the Minneapolis Interstate-35W bridge plummeted into the Mississippi River during bumper-to-bumper traffic on Wednesday evening.

Media outlets, however, will never be able to accurately convey the experience of those who were involved in the tragedy, said Tai Mendenhall, Ph.D. professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Minnesota.

Although he wasn’t in the accident, he knows firsthand how painful it was for the victims. Mendenhall was deployed to the hospital as part of the University’s Medical Reserve Corps. He listened to their harrowing stories immediately after the catastrophic event.

“It’s the sights, the smells, the sounds, the screaming – the sound that cars make when they fall,” he said. “It’s the experience of trying to get out of the water when the car falls into the river.”

Mendenhall is an expert in dealing with post-traumatic stress and has worked with victims of 9/11 and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

After the bridge fell, he was dispatched to the emergency room of the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview in Minneapolis to share his expertise as a psychological first aid specialist.

He arrived close to 8 p.m. and left at about 3 a.m. the next morning.

While Mendenhall was at the hospital, he tried to comfort dozens of patients, family members of victims. He raced back and forth between doctors and patients for information.

He tried to calm the chaos.

But it was tough.

For many who were in the emergency room late Wednesday night and into Thursday morning, the toughest part was not knowing if their loved ones were OK.

“It was awful,” Mendenhall said. “If all you know is that your wife is there and you have no idea whether she is going to walk again – or live – it’s awful.”

Others were trying to figure out what had just happened to them – confused about the unfolding saga, even if their bodily harm was minimal.

Most of those who were safe, were simply counting their blessings.

“It puts things into perspective, as people go through this type of thing,” he said. “There can be a lot of reflections, and suddenly the argument about where to hang the dish towel that morning isn’t that important.”

The work is far from over for Mendenhall.

He was redeployed to the hospital on Thursday afternoon, and will likely work with patients in the days to come.

Indeed, like the physical structure of the bridge, the emotional fallout from the event will take years to mend.