Have You Installed Your Carbon Monoxide Alarm Yet?

You could be subjecting yourself and family to a silent killer if you have not installed your working carbon monoxide alarm yet. According to the CBC television  this morning an Ottawa family just missed such a death this morning.

Some family members were found unconscious after one of their children started throwing up and the Ottawa, Ontario firemen found a reading of 300 ppm in the house.  A normal reading is 10.

You don't hear about such things in the news that often but according to officials carbon monoxide kills over 500 persons every year in America and accounts for another 15,000 emergency hospital visits. I don't have the current Canadian statistics for this right now but the rates must be quite high.


What you have to remember with carbon monoxide poisoning is that even if you do survive the initial poisoning and recover through some type of oxygen therapy --  involving breathing pure oxygen through a mask or being treated in a special hyparbaric chamber,  you can still suffer  debilitating after effects.  So it is not something you want to take for granted.

For more information on this case involving the Ottawa family  click on www.cbc.ca