Scrubs and Boots: UMMC nurse helps pull 100 motorists off ice-coated Lakeland exit

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - A medical ICU nurse at UMMC helped people in a whole new way during the winter ice storm this week.

It was around 6:45 Wednesday morning when Matt Harris says he noticed vehicles stranded along the exit ramp off I-55 South on Lakeland Drive.

After assessing the situation, and while still in his blue scrubs, Harris got out and pulled a tow strap from his Ford F250.

Harris, along with his former MICU coworker Tony Sistrunk, then spent the next hour hooking up cars and pulling them to the top of the hill.

According to Harris, he estimates that he and Sistrunk helped about 100 motorists - many of whom were nurses.

“I felt like I was mud-riding back in the day with my brother and his friends, and having to pull people out of the mud,” Harris said. “It was fun this morning, too.”

Dr. Andy Wilhelm, the MICU’s medical director, said he’s not at all surprised by the compassion these men shared and that “those are the characteristics they’ve always demonstrated and lived by in the ICU.”