Centereach family dug out of snowed-in home by shovel-ready Suffolk first responders

A pile of snow a foot high from Sunday's storm trapped Debra Menard, her husband and a niece, in dire need of pills to stem her high blood pressure, inside their Selden home until Tuesday when police officers and firefighters shoveled their way to the front door.

Neither Debra Menard, 74, and sick with bronchitis, her husband, John, 78, who has a pacemaker, nor Debra Menard's niece Darlene Pitrelli, 73, were in any condition to shovel themselves out to a pharmacy to replace Pitrelli’s pills, which had been misplaced for three days before the storm.

Pitrelli had moved in with the Menards while transitioning from an independent living facility into an apartment following neck and back injuries. Pitrelli's health worsened by the day as they sought help and searched for the missing medication, Debra Menard said. The Menards tore through the bags of Pitrelli’s personal belongings that lined their dining room but the blood pressure pills never turned up. 

"The moving people took boxes out already, so it might have been in those boxes" which are currently in storage, Menard told Newsday Tuesday after Suffolk police officers and Centereach firefighters and EMS had dug them out.

Officers responded to the residence for an "aided" call, according to a spokesperson for theSuffolk County Police Department, which had no additional information.

After the storm hit Sunday, and with the buildup of snow rendering her home's doors impossible to open, Debra Menard said, she left voicemails for several private snow removal companies, but never heard back.

"For two days I’ve been calling for snow pickup, and nobody will show up," she said. Things were feeling desperate.

"We even called the guy that does my lawn," John Menard said. As for help from the neighborhood, Debra Menard said, "Everybody stays to themselves. Our old neighbors were great, we all helped each other."

On Tuesday, her niece’s condition worsened, Debra Menard said.

"Her legs swelled up like balloons and she got bad headaches," Menard said, adding that she then called a physician who said dial 911.

Two Suffolk police officers arrived. One officer began shoveling, soon followed by the second, and eventually the Centereach fire and EMS personnel joined in, according to Menard.

After a path was cleared through the halfway-knee-high snow to the Menards' front door, EMTs placed Pitrelli on a stretcher to bring her to Stony Brook University Hospital.

"We appreciated all they did," Menard said of the first responders.

Correction: The Menard family lives in Centereach. A previous version of this story misidentified the hamlet.