By Erika Frye, Environmental Health Technician II             

In October of 2014, the Onondaga County Healthy Neighborhood Program (HNP) visited a family who lives on Garfield Avenue in Syracuse. The HNP is a program that provides health and safety related services to people who live in the City of Syracuse. At the visit on Garfield Avenue, the HNP completed an assessment and provided the family with a carbon monoxide detector. As part of the HNP’s collaboration with the Syracuse Green and Healthy Home Initiative (GHHI) the program visited the home again in December of 2016 and provided the family with another carbon monoxide alarm for another level of the home. In June of this year, the family discovered just how valuable these detectors are.

On June 11, homeowner Kimberly White said that the carbon monoxide detector in her kitchen began to beep. Kimberly said, “Around 9:00 our carbon monoxide detector went off in the kitchen and my husband said that it was probably the battery and I agreed. Twenty minutes later another alarm, one that was still in a bag in the hall closet, went off and I said now I am going to call the Fire Department.” The family evacuated their home and made the call.

The detectors that alarmed were the ones given to the family by the HNP. The family had not installed the second detector yet, but HNP staff always activates the detectors as they are given out so they are operable.

Kimberly continued, “The Fire Department came and picked up 45 ppm [of carbon monoxide] on their handheld detectors so we had to stay out. National Grid came and tagged the dryer and said it had been improperly vented.”

When I was speaking with Kimberly she was very thankful that the HNP took the time to visit her home and to educate her and her family about home health hazards, including carbon monoxide. Kimberly told me that she was “just glad we had detectors because they [the Syracuse Fire Department] said that at these levels, in 2 to 4 weeks we could have all died.”

Kimberly also wanted to thank our program for all that we do. She believes that the services provided by the HNP saved her family, but I explained that it was also because she listened and knew what to do. The HNP gave her the tools and she did the rest.

Kimberly White and her family stand in the kitchen where the carbon monoxide alarm went off.

The products that we provide improve the health and safety of the home, but I believe the education that we provide is just as valuable to our clients.

If you would like to learn more about the Healthy Neighborhood Program or the Green and Healthy Homes Initiative please call 315-435-5431.