Emergency rooms on Long Island have seen a flurry of injuries — including severed fingers — from snowblower accidents in the wake of Sunday’s blizzard, sources said.
One of the 16 people maimed, Mario Gianfrancesco of Mineola, displayed his two re-attached fingertips and urged people not to put their hands or feet anywhere near the deadly blades of snowblowers.
The 34-year-old carpenter made his comments at a press conference yesterday with a Nassau County official and doctors at Winthrop University Hospital where his fingers were re-attached. He is expected to make a full recovery in about three months.
Gianfrancesco said he shut the snow blower off Monday afternoon outside his home, but there was still “torque that was stored in the machine.”
He said the machine suddenly activated and the sharp blades “grabbed the tip of the glove and pulled my hand into the machine.” The accident almost completely severed the tips of two fingers of his left hand, leaving Gianfrancesco in “pure shock,” he said.
When he removed his shredded glove, his hand looked as if it were “Bolognese sauce — that’s exactly what I thought of. It was like chopped meat,” said Gianfrancesco, with a chuckle.
Nassau Legislator and Public Safety Chairman Dennis Dunne urged people to use a wooden or plastic strip to clear a jammed snowblower, not their hands or feet.
Surgeon Dr. Tommaso Addona said Gianfrancesco is expected to recover full use of the middle and index fingers of his left hand in about three months.