Ice becoming a safety concern as freezing temps stick around

QUINCY, Mass. — If you’ve been outside this week, you’ve seen the ice.

Sidewalks are covered after many struggled to clear all the snow from last weekend before it froze solid.

“All it takes is just a little bit of slippage, slipping and it leads to the foot to turn outward leading to a lot of ankle fractures,” said Dr. Thuan Ly, Chief of Orthopedic Trauma at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).

Dr. Ly says he’s seeing an uptick in ice-related injuries this week, treating lots of patients with ankle and wrist fractures at MGH.

“So often if they slip and fall, they’ll fall on their outstretched hand and often what they’ll do is they’ll break their wrist or sometimes they break their elbow,” said Dr. Ly.

The ice is becoming a safety concern, so many are now desperate for some ice melt, but there’s been a shortage of salt in stores.

“A lot of the salt companies have shut off because they don’t have inventory and they’re waiting for more inventory to come in from overseas,” said George Pepgjonaj, owner of Black Eagle Industries in Quincy.

Pepgjonaj owns a construction company and also specializes in snow and ice removal.

He was able to get a big pile of rock salt this week, and he plans to donate buckets of it to people in need.

“It started as 50 five-gallon buckets which is 50 pounds to military veterans in need and now that’s gone up to 100 buckets that we’re donating,” said Pepgjonaj.

He says another landscaper in West Roxbury will match his donations with another hundred buckets of salt to any veterans who could use some.

“Any veteran in need, we’ll reach out to and we’ll deliver,” said Pepgjonaj.

It could be a few days for this ice to melt, so doctors say take it slow when walking around.

If you’d like a bucket of rock salt donated or to purchase, reach out to Black Eagle Industries at 857-999-6411 or at blackeagleindustriescorp@gmail.com.

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