{"id":169100,"date":"2021-02-15T07:17:39","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T12:17:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=169100"},"modified":"2021-02-16T16:54:53","modified_gmt":"2021-02-16T21:54:53","slug":"winter-in-the-emergency-department-careful-with-that-snowblower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2021\/02\/winter-in-the-emergency-department-careful-with-that-snowblower\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter in the Emergency Department: Careful With that Snowblower"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cKeeping your doctor\u2019s office in the loop is very important.”<\/p>\n

\u2014Dr. Alise Frallicciardi, UConn John Dempsey Hospital Emergency Department<\/em><\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n

While it\u2019s not the most common problem the UConn John Dempsey Hospital Emergency Department sees in the winter, it could be the most avoidable.<\/p>\n

It may seem obvious that you shouldn\u2019t put your hand anywhere near the blades of a snowblower, but for some of us, that obvious wisdom goes out the window when a clog stops the machine from working. Where people get into trouble is not realizing the clog they think is safe to remove with the engine stopped could have caused a buildup of stored energy in the impeller. When it becomes unjammed, that built-up energy releases, enough to spin those blades again at a rate that can do serious damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s lawnmowers too, and garbage disposals,\u201d says Dr. Alise Frallicciardi<\/a>, UConn Health\u2019s medical director of emergency medicine. \u201cIt\u2019s human nature: We see something not moving and we think it\u2019s safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Alise Frallicciardi is UConn Health’s medical director of emergency medicine. (Photo by Tina Encarnacion)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If your machine doesn\u2019t come with a rod-like tool to use to loosen a clog, something like a broom handle can save your fingers.<\/p>\n

Slip-and-fall injuries, back ailments, and cardiovascular episodes from overexertion are the much more commonly seen snow-removal problems. The exertion can be especially dangerous to those with coronary artery disease risk factors like high blood pressure or high cholesterol.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can be active, go for walks, but shoveling is probably not the best activity,\u201d Frallicciardi says. \u201cIf you are going to shovel, you have to make sure you\u2019re breathing easy, not overexerting yourself, not using your lower back to shovel, using your legs and knees to lift that snow up, or better yet, push it out of the way instead of lifting and throwing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cold complicates things too. It can make breathing more difficult for those with respiratory problems, and it can make it harder to detect body heat generated by exertion.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just have to be very conscious of your activity level when you\u2019re out in the cold,\u201d Frallicciardi says.<\/p>\n

And that goes for winter recreational activities like skiing and snowboarding, which are common sources of orthopedic injuries like twisted knees and ankles and fractured wrists.<\/p>\n

When COVID-19 Is an Emergency (and When It\u2019s Not)<\/h3>\n

One of the more common presentations in the ED for the last 11 months or so is something that wasn\u2019t prevalent from the start of the previous winter: possible COVID-19 illness. While the ED is equipped to handle highly contagious situations, it\u2019s not always going to be the right place to go with a COVID scare.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you think you have been exposed to coronavirus and your symptoms are mild, such as a stuffy nose or mild sore throat, maybe a little bit of congestion, those don\u2019t necessarily require a visit to the emergency department,\u201d Frallicciardi says. \u201cIf you have chest pains or trouble breathing, those are things that should bring you to the emergency department. That\u2019s the differentiator, the mild symptoms.\u201d<\/p>\n

What about loss of taste and smell?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a mild symptom,\u201d Frallicciardi says. \u201cYou probably have COVID, and please be careful, quarantine, get tested and wear a mask, but you don\u2019t need to be seen in the emergency department for lost taste and smell. The majority of people who come in with possible COVID-19 go home without the need for admission to the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

How ED Patients Can Help Themselves<\/h3>\n

Frallicciardi advises patients to call their regular doctor when they go to the emergency department. If it\u2019s not possible to do so before or during the visit, even notifying the doctor\u2019s office afterward can enhance overall care because other providers will be able to check the electronic health record and stay informed.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeeping your doctor\u2019s office in the loop is very important, to let them know what\u2019s going on,\u201d she says. \u201cDoctors really want to know if their patients are in the ED, and in some cases they can help advise the ED care team, maybe they can coordinate care, such as, \u2018I can do that CAT scan in the outpatient setting,\u2019 or \u2018I did labs the other day.\u2019 We\u2019re all on the same team. We\u2019re just trying to take care of everybody as cooperatively as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

And when you\u2019re not sure if what you\u2019re dealing with rises to the level of requiring emergency care, a call to your doctor first could save you a trip to the ED.<\/p>\n

But the standard advice of what always is an emergency is worth the reminder: Any signs of possible heart attack or stroke start a race against the clock for treatment to save heart muscle or brain tissue. In these cases, the best way to the ED is via ambulance, where EMTs can initiate care in the hospital by transmitting important information while in transit. Potential broken bones or other traumatic injuries, difficulty breathing, and overdoses are other examples of appropriate reasons to seek emergency care.<\/p>\n

Learn more about the UConn John Dempsey Hospital Emergency Department.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Add potential COVID-19 cases to the list of what the providers in the UConn John Dempsey Hospital ED are seeing this time of year, along with winter\u2019s common health hazards from snow removal and injuries from winter sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":169103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2231,1868,2235,179],"tags":[2243],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2010],"class_list":["post-169100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-well-being","category-meds","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-health","tag-health-wellness"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 08:47:25","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169100"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":169269,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169100\/revisions\/169269"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/169103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169100"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=169100"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=169100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}