In a nutshell

I am thinking of developing an educational program for the city of Eden Prairie to help generate interest and involvement between the schools and the fire stations. Every year we get a chance to spend 30-45 minutes in a classroom lecturing and demonstrating the dangers of fire and how to be safe. This is critical part to the education process. It also helps strengthen the role/bond between the department, fire fighters and the community. You hope the kids remember and apply the learning.
But to be certain, why not give the little ones a little motivation. My concept is to build or license (have someone build) a website that allows kids to select an age appropriate curriculum. Then proceed to a simple test to check their comprehension. Each curriculum allows the student to print a certificate of achievement. Each certificate can be brought in to a fire station to get an age appropriate gift (think coloring book, pencil, etc…) This gives the child an incentive to meet fire fighters and tour a station.

That is it….in a nutshell.

Sunday Morning Call

This morning we had a 6am page for a house fire. Page came across that owner came home to find fire inside the house. My first thought was some holiday lights gone bad. Upon arrival we were the 3rd Engine and proceeded to the deck. The home had some visible smoke rolling from the front door. We were asked to enter on the lower level “C” Side. There was moderate smoke from the basement with the fire up in the ceiling and floor joists. The fire was under control quickly after pulling some ceilings. We were back at the station cleaning gear by 8:30. Not a bad start to a Sunday morning.

Smoke Alarms—Do They Wake Children?

Another Article by the MN Fire Marshal Dept (by Becki W.)

I was presented with a challenge this month. I was asked to investigate why there are all these news stories out there about how children don’t wake up when the traditional smoke alarm goes off, but at the same time, we don’t see personalized smoke detectors being marketed widely. If you haven’t seen the news stories, of which there are many, here are a few:

News story from Hawaii: http://kgmb9.com/main/content/view/1758/

News story from Wisconsin: http://www.channel3000.com/video/9143807/index.html

Follow-up report from Wisconsin: http://www.channel3000.com/money/1797516/detail.html

There was also a comprehensive study done by Pediatrics—the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics: Comparison of a Personalized Parent Voice Smoke Alarm With a Conventional Residential Tone Smoke Alarm for Awakening Children
Gary A. Smith, MD, DrPH, Mark Splaingard, MD, John R. Hayes, PhDa and Huiyun Xiang, MD, PhD, MPH PEDIATRICS Vol. 118 No. 4 October 2006, pp. 1623-1632 (doi:10.1542/peds.2006-0125) http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/118/4/1623

In a story by WISC-TV in Madison, Wisconsin, (http://www.channel3000.com/family/9150907/detail.html) Dr. Kathryn Middleton, a sleep medicine specialist for Dean Health System/St. Mary's Hospital, said that there are physiological reasons why kids may not respond to loud noises while sleeping.

"You really cannot count on a kid of any young age awakening knowing what to do," Middleton told WISC-TV, “Children have more deep-sleep than adults, the sleep that's difficult to awaken from.” A child may spend 30 percent, a third of their night, in deep sleep. “Whereas an adult could often be more like 10 percent," said Dr. Middleton.

St. Mary's Hospital Sleep Lab Technician Dave Sprecher said kids sleep soundly because they're growing."The body releases more growth hormones in deep sleep than it does during the entire day," said Sprecher. "Kids do the majority of their growing at night when they're sleeping." Studies show that even when children wake during a deep, or “slow-wave” sleep, they are often not alert.

"You wouldn't be surprised if a person would awaken from slow-wave sleep, and not know where they were and not know to get out of the smoke," said Dr. Middleton.

As a fire educator and the mother of a small child, these stories shock and frighten me! I tried to find personalized smoke alarms on the market, but was able to track down only one company that offers these alarms — Kid Smart Talking Smoke Alarms: http://www.redi-exit.com/talking-smoke-alarms.html. They offer alarms for approximately $40. The alarms are also available on other sites where they average $60-$80.

Many other major companies offer a “talking smoke alarm,” but these are all pre-recorded messages that cannot be changed. I could find no studies that tested the effectiveness of the pre-recorded message alarms.

One way to help kids wake up to the sound of the smoke alarm is to practice your fire drill often — including the middle of the night. Train children to hear, understand, and react to the alarm, and teach them precisely how to react.

Test your smoke alarms often; make sure you hold the test button down long enough to set off all the connected alarms in the house. Make sure that everyone can hear the alarms behind closed doors where family members might be sleeping.

ER Shadow

Friday morning I spent for hours shadowing an EMT Tech at Methodist Hospital. I needed five patient contacts which was no problem so we were fairly selective avoiding the H1N1 patients and kept an eye for some trauma….no luck.

First patient was a COPD with a chief complaint of difficulty breathing. Other patients included a few other respiration related issues, chest pains and a bowel obstruction. I did get a see two catheter procedures as they looked for coronary lesions and blockages. Very impressive to see how quickly a catheter can be pushed up the femoral artery all the way up to the R. Atrium.

I did miss a eviscerated bowel by fifteen minutes….that would have been something to see…..okay, after googleing “eviscerated bowel” maybe I am glad I missed it.