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Mayor Laughlin suffers broken jaw after falling on a welding machine
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · February 15, 2018
West Branch Mayor Roger Laughlin broke his jaw in an accident at his home earlier this month.
The mayor, who owns a construction company, Laughlin Design, fell down some stairs Feb. 1 while carrying an 80-pound welder from his basement to the garage. He ended up with 15 stitches and doctors wired his mouth shut for six to eight weeks.
Speaking through clenched teeth, Laughlin said the doctors prescribed codeine for the pain, which he takes every four hours.
The mayor missed the Feb. 6 City Council meeting, but returned to work and his mayoral duties a couple of days after that.
“I can work pretty well,” he said.
However, sleeping is difficult.
“I got two hours of sleep last night,” he said Feb. 8. “I’m really tired.”
His wife, Connie, announced the accident online, stating that Roger miscalculated the last step and fell forward on the machine, severely cutting his chin.
She wrote that the emergency room doctor did not think it was broken or dislocated.
“It certainly hurt … but we though it was just the trauma from the fall,” Connie wrote.
Yet the following Monday Roger’s jaw locked open, causing him “dire pain,” and another trip to the emergency room led to a scan, which found the break and dislocation.
Wiring his jaw shut took two hours, she wrote, not the 20 to 40 minutes they were told, placing screws in his jaw bone and threading the wire around them.
Roger must eat food first run through a blender.
The mayor said he does not get too many calls from citizens, nor get stopped often on the street, which would require him to talk.
“Nobody complains,” he said, with what sounded like a chuckle.
He said he had city-related meetings that would require his participation, from economic development to seeking grant funding, and that he would start calling for donations to Hoover’s Hometown Days.
“I don’t know how I’m going to do that,” he said. “But I’ll get through it.”
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