AMR Offers Advice to Prevent Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

(JACKSON, Miss.) — Carbon monoxide is an odorless, tasteless and colorless gas known as the “silent killer.” The Centers for Disease Control estimates that carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning nationwide claims nearly 400 lives and causes more than 20,000 visits to hospital emergency departments annually.

“Many people write off the symptoms of CO poisoning as the flu. But CO poisoning can be far more debilitating than the flu. If untreated, it can kill its victims or cause brain damage,” said Jim Pollard, spokesman for AMR Central Mississippi.

Pollard offers these tips to help protect your family from CO poisoning:

• Have home heating systems (including chimneys and vents) inspected and serviced annually by a trained technician.
• Never use portable generators inside homes or garages, even if doors and windows are open.
• Only use generators outside, far away from the home.
• Never bring a charcoal grill into the house or garage for heating or cooking.
• Never use a gas range or oven for heating.
• Open the fireplace damper before lighting a fire and keep it open until the ashes are cool.
• Install battery-operated CO alarms outside each sleeping area.

Know the Symptoms of CO Poisoning

Because CO is odorless, colorless and otherwise undetectable to the human senses, people may not know when they are exposed. The initial symptoms of low-to-moderate CO poisoning are similar to the flu, but without the fever. They include:

• Headache
• Fatigue
• Shortness of breath
• Nausea
• Dizziness

High-level CO poisoning leads to progressively more severe symptoms. Be on the lookout for:

• Mental confusion
• Vomiting
• Loss of muscular coordination
• Loss of consciousness
• Change in the color of the lips to cherry red, which is a late sign not often seen

Don’t ignore any of the symptoms listed above, especially if more than one person in the household is experiencing them. If you think you are suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, you should:

• Leave the house
• Get fresh air immediately
• Call 911 from your cellphone or a neighbor’s house
• Go to an emergency department and be sure to tell the physician that you suspect CO poisoning

For more information on carbon monoxide poisoning please visit the Consumer Safety Product Commission’s website at www.cpsc.gov.

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About Global Medical Response

With more than 38,000 employees, Global Medical Response teams deliver compassionate, quality medical care, primarily in the areas of emergency and patient relocation services in the United States, the District of Columbia and around the world. GMR was formed by combining the industry leaders in air, ground, managed medical transportation and community, industrial/specialty and wildland fire services. Each of our companies have long histories of proudly serving the communities where we live: American Medical Response (AMR), Rural Metro Fire, Air Evac Lifeteam, REACH Air Medical Services, Med-Trans Corporation and AirMed International. For additional information, visit us on LinkedIn or at www.GlobalMedicalResponse.com.

Serving 17 Mississippi counties, AMR companies are the state’s busiest ambulance services.