Daily Gazette: Winter Storms are Prime Time for Snowblower Mishaps

Following the recent flurry of winter storms in the Capital Region, The Daily Gazette published this article about the dangers present when operating a snowblower, offering tips on how to avoid injury.

Dr. Frank Dimase, St. Peter’s Hospital’s Chief of Emergency Medicine, was interviewed for the story.

From the article:

Dr. Frank Dimase, chief of emergency medicine at St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany, saw mangled hands and fingers during his residency at Bay State Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, but that was years ago. He has not seen many winter snowblower injuries during his time at St. Peter’s.

“It’s like the Fourth of July,” Dimase said. “Sometimes we’ll have many injuries in two days, same thing with storms. The last couple years, we haven’t seen many storms in the Capital Region. It’s usually proportional to the weather.”

A hand caught in a snowblower will often require extensive surgery.

“It’s really life-changing,” Dimase said. “It oftentimes leads to permanent disability.”

See the full story here.