NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – For many residents in one Queens community it hasn’t been a matter of when the mail will arrive, it’s been a question of if their packages will ever be delivered.

The mail emergency in the Rockaways has been going on for nearly a year.

Now, one man whose life literally depends on receiving medication through the mail is getting action after CBS2 demanded answers from the U.S. Postal Service.

Joe Coughlan says he can’t believe what a difference a few minutes made after he shared his story on CBS2.

“Packages that have literally been missing for months are suddenly showing up here,” Coughlan told CBS2’s Hazel Sanchez Monday.

CBS2 has reported about the U.S. Postal Service’s failures since January and the agency been very slow to respond.

Coughlan said his post office ignored his calls for help until he told CBS2 about his critical condition in early December.

“The same night about 10 p.m. the manager from the post office called me… (the one) that hung up on me a week earlier, acting like a completely different person, apologizing profusely, saying that on behalf of the entire postal service that they’re working their hardest and that it’ll never happen again,” Coughlan recalled.

The 34-year-old added that the next morning a postal police officer showed up with eight packages, some dating back to October. More at CBS NY