First snow, then orthopedic injuries, chest pains
James Wolffe clears snow in front of his Centereach home from Sunday's blizzard on Monday afternoon. Credit: Newsday / Thomas A. Ferrara
As Long Islanders emerged from their homes to dig out from the massive snowstorm, hospitals began seeing a spike in back injuries from shoveling, wrist and knee injuries from slipping and falling on the ice, and chest pains from overexertion.
“The biggest one and the most major thing that we see is an increase in the number of heart attacks right after a storm,” said Dr. Peter McKenna, medical director of the Stony Brook University Hospital emergency department, where doctors saw several people Monday arrive after having heart attacks. “People go outside into the cold and they shovel heavy snow, and it's the most physical activity that they've done all year. And they kind of fail their own stress test.”
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