Carbon monoxide poisoning has tragically taken three children from our community. Please take precautions to keep yourself and your family safe.
Protect Your Family From Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
For the last several days my hometown of Troy, Ohio has been a buzz about an accident that claimed the lives of 3 innocent children, while leaving another child and their grandmother still in the hospital. My nieces were friends of the deceased children, and it was decided that we would attend a candlelight celebration that was being held in their honor at a local community center.
Immediately, when I walked through the doors of the center, I was stricken by the vast hole these children’s death has left in our community, and as I was sitting there waiting for the vigil to start, I overheard a man sitting next to me mention that he was most affected by this because their death was 100% preventable. The truth of the matter was, he said exactly what I had been thinking.
To have a child die is heartbreaking. To have three children die from something that could have been prevented for $35.00 is gut wrenchingly tragic. These young lives were lost because a furnace malfunctioned and there was not a carbon monoxide detector in the home. What has been so eye opening to many people, including myself, is the fact this house could have been my house and these children could have been my children!
Until this weekend though, for whatever reason, I had never thought twice about carbon monoxide poisoning, even though I consider myself a pretty responsible person in terms of safety. I have 5 smoke detectors hardwired throughout my house, several fire extinguishers on hand, and I have an evacuation plan carefully put in place if a fire should break out. Despite all of this though, I had no plan for the odorless, tasteless, colorless gas that is carbon monoxide.
This tragic accident changed that for me, and by the looks of the empty shelves at the local hardware stores, it changed many other people’s carbon monoxide awareness as well.
Please, if you are reading this post and do not have carbon monoxide detectors in your home, and you heat or cook with gas, go get a detector today. Your life and the lives of those you love depend on it!
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Overview
- Carbon monoxide (also referred to as CO) is a colorless, odorless gas. You can't see it, smell it, or taste it; but carbon monoxide can kill you.
- Carbon monoxide is produced by common household appliances. When not properly ventilated, carbon monoxide emitted by these appliances can build up.
- Early symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning such as headaches, diziness, vomiting, nausea and fatigue, are often mistaken for the flu when CO goes undetected in the home.
- If you breathe in a lot of CO it can make you pass out, but prolonged exposure can lead to brain damage and death.
