nwasianweekly.com
Mar. 17, 2007

Photo by Carol N. Vu

Theresa Lam, of the Chinese Information and Service Center, displays some of the carbon-monoxide detectors donated by First Alert.

Free alarms help detect silent killer

By James Tabafunda
For the Northwest Asian Weekly

Last December’s windstorm caused more than a long, widespread electrical outage for Western Washington residents. It resulted in the tragic deaths of nearly an entire Vietnamese immigrant family living in Burien.

Khanh Tran, his wife Dan Thuy Nguyen and their three sons, Doanh Tran, 24, Quyen Tran, 21, and John Quoc Tran, 14, died of carbon-monoxide poisoning after running a generator in their garage. Only one son survived, a 19-year-old student at the University of Washington who was living on campus at the time.
In all, eight people in Western Washington died from CO poisoning when a powerful windstorm knocked out power in more than a million homes and businesses.

Accidental CO poisoning is a major problem in Southeast Asian communities, as well as in African and Latin American immigrant communities, according to James Apa, spokesperson for Public Health – Seattle and King County. Agencies in Chinatown/International District want to help prevent more CO-related deaths.

The Chinese Information and Service Center (CISC) has partnered with the International District Emergency Center (IDEC) and the company First Alert to distribute free CO detectors to CISC’s low-income clients on a first-come, first-served basis. First Alert donated a total of 300 battery-operated carbon-monoxide alarms — each one valued at around $20 — to the community as part of a home-safety campaign aimed at immigrants and non-English-speaking residents.

The donation is part of FirstAlert’s plan to give away 50,000 to 75,000 alarms each year to various charitable causes. FirstAlert’s director of external affairs, Debbie Hanson, points out that these alarms can literally save people’s lives. “Unlike smoke, we can’t see it (carbon monoxide). It’s completely odorless and colorless, so it poses a larger risk,” she said.
December’s power outage led some people to use alternative heating sources, like charcoal grills, indoors and to turn on their generators, both of which produce large amounts of carbon monoxide and are intended for outdoor use only. Other CO-emitting sources include cars idling in attached garages, furnaces, water heaters and fireplaces.

Carbon-monoxide poisoning tends to hit immigrant families hard because they are often unaware that using generators or cooking with charcoal indoors is dangerous. “They don’t realize you cannot do that in a tight (or enclosed) environment,” said Theresa Lam, CISC’s International Family Center coordinator. “I think this is cultural.”

She added that the language barrier is another challenge when educating immigrants about the dangers of carbon monoxide. As the number of people hospitalized due to CO poisoning rose, Public Health – Seattle and King County began posting and distributing informational fliers in the International District and other ethnic communities in several different languages, including Chinese and Vietnamese.

More than 100 Western Washington residents with symptoms such as headaches and dizziness visited hospital emergency rooms after the windstorm.

CO is lighter than air and, once inhaled, prevents blood from carrying oxygen throughout the body. A hyperbaric chamber is used to re-oxygenate the blood in the most serious cases. For those poisoned while sleeping or intoxicated, death occurs after only a few minutes.
Public Health – Seattle and King County shares these safety tips:

• Never use gasoline-powered equipment indoors. Substantial ventilation is necessary when using generators and other gasoline-powered equipment.

• Never burn charcoal indoors.

• Never use a gas oven to heat your home, even for a short time.

• Never idle a car in a garage, even when the garage door is open.

• Never sleep in a room while using an unvented gas or kerosene heater.

• Make sure chimneys and flues are in good condition and are not blocked.

Anyone suspected of breathing in carbon monoxide should be moved to a place with fresh air immediately. That person should be taken to an emergency room as soon as possible.

CISC has already decided which clients will receive the potentially life-saving alarms. “Our priority is for those who cannot afford to buy one and who use gas at home. So, the elderly first,” said Lam. CISC case managers will deliver the detectors to those seniors who request one.

Lam said families that have recently immigrated to America will also receive detectors. “We will give (detectors), for example, to single parents with toddlers, little babies, first, and then single parents with teenagers,” she explained.
“Maybe in two or three weeks, they will be gone,” Lam estimated about how long the giveaway will last. She said CISC’s case managers will be active in distributing all the alarms.

A recent Consumer Product Safety Commission statement said the carbon monoxide produced by one generator is equal to that produced by hundreds of running cars. Also, CO poisoning is the leading cause of accidental poisoning deaths in the country, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.

For more information about carbon-monoxide poisoning, visit www.metrokc.gov/health/disaster/carbmono.htm or www.firstalert.com.

James Tabafunda can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

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