winter is still here with freezing
temperatures and snow causing headaches
for millions of Americans and if you are
using a snowblower to clear your
property we have a very serious danger
alert shoveling is back-breaking work so
many of us fire up snow blowers to get
the job done but every winter thousands
of people end up in the ER from
snowblower injuries like these being a
little impatient reached in to clear the
snow and that's when it Marie Daniels
right hand was mangled in a terrible
snow blower accident his wife called 911
yeah the fingers to doff buy a
snowblower so it's a partial amputation
imitation fingers are quite mangled up
Daniel says he released the controls
that make the blade spin but the machine
was still on idle there must have been
some built-up tension in the machine and
it took off the ends of my three middle
fingers Wow right above the knuckle
right above the knuckles Jason Butler
says the same thing happened to him on a
machine similar to this one I just
reached in and I just I I reached down
too far I heard my fingers snap it was
literally it sounded almost like a shot
two of his fingertips were ripped right
off so why do these gruesome injuries
keep happening year after year Conway
New Hampshire Fire Department Chief
Steve Solomon says most injuries occur
when the discharge chute gets clogged
with heavy snow or ice using these
plastic mannequin hands chief Solomon
agreed to show us what can happen
sometimes when people mistake and we try
to clear a clogged chute let's take a
look what happened oh wow I think the
only finger that would have survived
this would have been the thumb the thumb
yeah that's scary you should never put
your hand in the snow Laura and this is
why so what should you do if it does get
clogged you're gonna have to clear it
don't do it with the machine running and
use a stick a broom handle or a small
shovel to clear it and then when you
restart it we'll be able to throw it out
every time it snows we're worried that
we're gonna see snow blower related
injuries dr. Ryan Katz a plastic surgeon
at the Curt
national hand center at Union Memorial
Hospital in Baltimore saved what was
left of Jason Butler's hand and how's
your motion there let's see it's good
let's you make a full tight fit good
straighten up don't ever put your hand
in a snowblower and that seems logical
but you might feel compelled to do it
when the machine clogs up Butler an IT
professional for Maryland had to relearn
how to type with only eight fingers as
for Murray Daniels a retired pilot and
engineer with the passion for the piano
the injury was especially devastating in
the emergency room I kept telling the
doctors and nurses I played piano please
save my hand whatever you can do Daniels
is grateful that the doctors at Brigham
and Women's Hospital outside Boston were
able to salvage his hand pushes on and
it sticks on stays on by suction with
the help of these three prosthetics and
lots of rehab he's finally back tickling
the ivories
I can get one person to not do the
stupid thing that I did then all this is
worth it snow blower manufacturers
propose clear warnings to keep hands and
feet away from all moving parts experts
say even after you turn off the engine
don't use your hands to clear a clog
because the blades can still make a
final turn and cause injury
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