October 4 – 10 is Fire Prevention Week, and this year the National Fire Protection Association is focusing on fire safety in the kitchen. No wonder: Nearly half of reported U.S. home fires start in the kitchen, and cooking is the leading cause of home fire injuries.
Check
these resources to keep yourself and your family safe:
Hand sanitizer has become a staple on our shopping lists. But some of the supply being produced to meet the demand is either not effective or downright dangerous, according to the Food & Drug Administration.
The FDA’s list of over 100 hand sanitizers to be avoided includes products with inadequate
levels of alcohol, as well as those containing potentially dangerous methanol.
The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention recommend that, when soap and water are not available, alcohol-based
hand sanitizers with at least 60 percent ethanol should be used. The FDA. has
found at least 4 hand sanitizers with inadequate concentrations of ethanol,
including: NeoNatural, Medicare Alcohol Antiseptic Topical Solution, Datsen
Hand Sanitizer and Alcohol Antiseptic 62 Percent Hand Sanitizer.
The FDA has also reported a sharp
increase in hand sanitizer products that have tested positive for methanol contamination.
Methanol, or wood alcohol, can be toxic when absorbed through the skin and can
be life-threatening if ingested. Don’t expect methanol to be listed on the
ingredients: Check
the list of hand sanitizers to be avoided.
The 2020 Jane and Larry Glazer Memorial Golf Tournament to benefit Prevention 1st will be held on Monday, September 21. This year’s new location is Irondequoit Country Club, 4045 East Avenue, Rochester, NY.
Sponsorships are available, and
non-golfers are welcome for dinner following the tournament.
The event will adhere to all necessary safety guidelines, including table spacing and seating capacity. Golfers may ride two to a cart, however if a golfer wishes to maintain space they may walk and keep their clubs on the cart.
Please contact one of the following with questions: Jessica Holly (co-chair): jbdinaburg@gmail.com Michael Chatwin (co-chair): mchatwin@logs.com Jack Dinaburg, (585) 766-3660
Campbell Rogoff (right) with her co-counselor Lily Rae
Eight-year-old Campbell Rogoff got the idea while playing with a 5-year-old neighbor in the Rogoff’s pool: “We could call this Camp Campbell”. She talked with her friend Lily Rae, also 8, about making Camp Campbell official.
“We thought it would be
great that kids can get out, and be with other kids,” said Campbell. Their day
camp would have a variety of activities and charge a reasonable camp fee.
Lily Rae suggested a
business model: they needed a ‘trial’ day to see if the idea would fly. When
four kids came on the trial day and “everyone loved it,” the girls knew they
had a winning model. When Camp Campbell officially opened on a Wednesday, they
had nine campers ages 4-6 years old. By the second camp day on Friday, nine new
and returning campers showed up.
Campbell’s parents knew just
how successful their daughter’s idea was when they got a call from someone they
didn’t even know.
“A mother had heard ‘Camp
Campbell’ was open and wanted to know how to enroll her child!” recalls
Campbell’s father Brett.
“Miss Campbell” and “Miss
Lily Rae,” as their nametags identified them, provided lots of activities
besides swimming in the pool. The campers enjoyed making and playing with water
balloons, ‘slime,’ and bubble mix, as well as—the favorite—whacking a pinata. Along
with the fun they were also taught important pool safety rules, such as staying
in the shallow end of a pool if you haven’t yet learned to swim.
Camp Campbell raised $100
in camp fees. Campbell discussed it with her family and decided to donate the
money to Prevention 1st, of which Brett Rogoff is a Board member.
The Rogoffs have added their own donation to this, introducing the girls to
another model: the matching gift.
It may be possible to be
too successful. One mom reported her son had begged: “Let’s go to Camp Campbell
every day!”
Every day might be a bit too much work. But
Campbell and Lily Rae do plan to bring back Camp Campbell later this summer.
After all, the demand is there. And they’ve got a winning model.
A
campfire casts a warm glow and a sense of adventure—even if it’s in your own
backyard. Cooking dinner outside on a grill can make any meal “our favorite!”
This year, being outside is a special pleasure. As we move outdoors and bring
fire with us, it’s important to bring safety as well.
Pick your spot carefully. Whether it’s a grill or firepit, make sure it’s well away from houses and sheds, vehicles, shrubs and trees including low-hanging branches.
Enforce a “3-Foot Rule” just as you do for the stove. Keep children and pets at least three feet from the fire or grill.
Never use gasoline or kerosene on either a grill or a campfire. If you’re using starter fluid with your grill, never put the fluid on a hot grill. Make sure lighter fluids are stored securely and away from children.
Resist the belief that bigger is better when it comes to campfires! A roaring blaze can more easily get out of control, and can send embers long distances.
Just as you wouldn’t leave the stove unattended, never leave your campfire or grill unattended. Put a campfire out completely before you go to bed. When you’re done with a charcoal grill, let the coals cool completely before moving or storing it.
Store lighters and matches out of sight and reach of children.
Model safe behavior for your children, treating fire with respect. Avoid assigning fire tasks to children too young to understand fire risk or react if something unexpected happens. To learn more about what children understand about fire.
Cleaning and disinfecting our homes has taken on new importance during the coronavirus pandemic. To stay safe, it’s equally important to use and store cleaning and disinfecting products properly. The CDC has these tips:
Keep cleaning products out of reach in homes
with small children and pets.
Never mix chlorine bleach with ammonia–or any
chemical other than water. This can create deadly gasses. (Note: Bleach can
appear on ingredients lists as sodium hypochlorite).
Just
as you shouldn’t directly mix chemicals in a bottle, be careful about using one
product after another on the same surface. If you must use two separate
products to clean and disinfect, wipe the surface thoroughly with water to
remove all residue from the first product before using the second.
When using bleach keep the area
well-ventilated.
Disinfectant sprays are meant to be used on
surfaces, never on the body, pets, or food.
The CDC provides these directions for a
proper bleach solution: 5 tablespoons of bleach per gallon of water, OR
4 teaspoons of bleach per quart of water. Make only
as much bleach solution as you’ll need right now, because it starts to lose effectiveness
after only about a day.
With many schools closed and
parents working from home due to coronavirus, many households are disrupted. As
you try to establish normal routines for these abnormal times, keep safety in
mind:
Tripping
hazards—toys, shoes, books on the floor—can
accumulate quickly when kids are home all day. To prevent falls and keep
pathways clear if you need to get out quickly on case of fire, make “pick up” a
regular part of kids’ routines.
Maintain
a “child-free zone” around a hot cooktop and oven. Children ages 8 and younger
can help in the kitchen, but only with activities that don’t involve heat or
knives. Check out Kids in the Kitchen for what kitchen responsibilities are
appropriate at different ages. And while you’re cooking more at home, make sure
you’re Modeling Kitchen Fire Safety.
Looking
for activities to do with your kids? If you haven’t planned—or recently
reviewed—your home fire escape plan now could be the perfect time. Learn how at
www.homefiredrill.org.
With restaurants closed in many states and communities, we will certainly be cooking more at home. So, it’s’ a good time the remember that cooking is a leading cause of house fires – make sure it doesn’t happen to you!
60% of house fires start in the kitchen,
but these fires can be prevented! Take
these simple steps to keep your family safe:
Don’t leave the kitchen when cooking on the stovetop.
Keep the stovetop area clean and free of clutter.
Tie back hair and loose clothing.
Keep a lid nearby to slide over a small grease fire and keep it on until the pan is cool–NEVER put water on a grease fire.
Frying is a leading cause of kitchen fires – stay safe AND healthy and consider baking or broiling your food instead!
NYS Senator Joe Robach, Marlene Hamman-Whitmore and Rochester Fire Marshal Christine Schryver judge the posters
Talented young artists from schools throughout the area–RCSD Abelard Reynolds School #42, Cobbles Elementary School, East Rochester School, Harris Hill Elementary School, Honeoye Falls Manor School, RCSD Pinnacle School #35, Scribner Road Elementary School, St. Joseph School, and the Charles Finney School–contributed posters to the contest this year.
Congratulations to our 1st Place Winners in each category:
Rishaan Shah, 1st Grade, Scribner Road Elementary School Juliette LaBarr, 4th Grade, The Charles Finney School Alyssa Klawon, 5th Grade, RCSD School #42
Honorable
mentions go to:
Youngju Noh, 3 Grade, Cobbles Elementary Emma Thomas, 1st Grade, St. Joseph School Abdisadik Ali, 5th Grade, RCSD School #42 Antonio Dixon, 5th grade, RCSD School #42 Hyoju Joanne Noh, 1st Grade, Cobbles Elementary School
And congratulations to fifth-grader D’angelo Dixon, the lucky winner of a random drawing of all poster artists, who will get a ride on a firetruck to RCSD Abelard Reynolds School #42, courtesy of the Rochester Fire Department!
Prevention 1st would like to thank this year’s judges for their work in choosing this year’s winners: New York State Senator Joe Robach, Rochester Fire Marshal Christine Schryver, and Memorial Art Gallery Education Director Marlene Hamman-Whitmore.
Posters were judged on
both artistic merit and the impact of its fire safety message. All participants
will receive a certificate and all posters will be displayed at the following locations
around the city and county during March:
Rochester Public Library Children’s Center (winners and honorable mentions)
Lauren Ritchie
of Lancaster NY, the first winner of the Arlayne & Stephen D. Rogoff
Scholarship, learned to prevent injuries through a very personal experience:
caring for her beloved grandmother.
The Rogoff Scholarship application requires
an essay outlining the candidate’s personal experience with a preventable
injury or in-home danger and their plans to generate awareness or educate
others on such risks. In her essay, Ritchie wrote of her close relationship
with her grandmother, “my first true friend.” When a near-fatal infection and multiple
surgeries left her grandmother needing assistance, prone to falls, and
vulnerable to injuries in her own home, “She became more dependent on me and
our roles were reversed.”
The steps that Ritchie
and her family took to protect her grandmother make a good checklist for
anyone: They reviewed her home for tripping hazards and removed them, placed night lights, and
bought grab bars, non-slip mat, and a shower seat for the bathroom. They installed smoke detectors and carbon
monoxide detectors in
main areas and the bedroom, and, crucially, put reminders in family member’s
calendars to regularly change each detector’s battery.
With these
devices and prevention measures in place, Ritchie wrote, “I began to see her
life return to normal again.” Now 91, her grandmother continues to live
independently.
Ritchie plans
to continue to spread awareness of preventable injuries as a Physician
Assistant specializing in gerontology.
The Arlayne & Stephen D. Rogoff
Scholarship was established by their children — Scott, Brett and Robyn — along with their families and the Prevention 1st
Board of Directors. Mr.
Rogoff was a tremendous friend to Prevention 1st,
and co-founded the organization’s first major fund raiser, a Golf Tournament in
2013. The $1,000 scholarships are awarded to recipients who best demonstrate
Stephen’s empathetic and actionable character. For more information contact info@prevention1st.og.
