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Health and Safety Special Committee
2024-2025
State Health and Safety Committee Chair
Verna Mitchell
State Health and Safety Committee Members
Mary Ann Dolezal, Judy Hart, Debbie Prukop, Carol Rose
The TRTA Health and Safety Special Committee was created by President Marcy Cann and approved by the TRTA Executive Board for 2022-24. This committee will provide some of the information and resources previously promoted by the Healthy Living and Informative and Protective Services State Committees. It is an “opt-in” Committee at the district and local chapter levels.
Districts or local chapters can have a Health and Safety Chair, a Health Chair, a Safety Chair, or none.
The purpose of this special committee is to serve the entire membership of TRTA with health and safety information.
The goals of this committee are to provide monthly health and safety articles; and to promote health and safety programs and special events.
On the first Tuesday of the month, a health article will be posted on the TRTA website. On the third Tuesday of the month, a safety article will be posted on the TRTA website. These articles will include pertinent information for our members and will often include resources and online references. Once an article is replaced, it will become available under the appropriate menu tab. Please see the tabs below. This information is provided for all TRTA members.
Additional information will be provided, primarily for districts and local chapters, including newsletters, a monthly observances planning calendar, program ideas, and special events. Special events will include planning information for health and safety fairs, fitness walks, and other large-scale programs.
In addition to the committee members, advisors will serve in specific roles to assist the committee.
Districts or local chapters can have a Health and Safety Chair, a Health Chair, a Safety Chair, or none.
The purpose of this special committee is to serve the entire membership of TRTA with health and safety information.
The goals of this committee are to provide monthly health and safety articles; and to promote health and safety programs and special events.
On the first Tuesday of the month, a health article will be posted on the TRTA website. On the third Tuesday of the month, a safety article will be posted on the TRTA website. These articles will include pertinent information for our members and will often include resources and online references. Once an article is replaced, it will become available under the appropriate menu tab. Please see the tabs below. This information is provided for all TRTA members.
Additional information will be provided, primarily for districts and local chapters, including newsletters, a monthly observances planning calendar, program ideas, and special events. Special events will include planning information for health and safety fairs, fitness walks, and other large-scale programs.
In addition to the committee members, advisors will serve in specific roles to assist the committee.
Safety Articles
CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING
Overview
Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs when carbon monoxide builds up in the blood. When too much carbon monoxide is in the air, the body replaces the oxygen in the red blood cells with carbon monoxide. This can lead to serious tissue damage, or even death.
Carbon monoxide is gas that has no odor, taste, or color. Burning fuels, including gas, wood, propane, or charcoal, make carbon monoxide. Appliances and engines that aren’t well vented can cause the gas to build up to dangerous levels. A tightly enclosed space makes the buildup worse.
Anyone exposed to carbon monoxide needs to get into fresh air and seek medical care right away. Call emergency medical services (EMS) or dial 911 right away for someone who’s in a coma or can’t respond.
Symptoms
Carbon monoxide poisoning affects the brain and heart the most. Exposure over time might lead to symptoms that can be mistaken for the flu without the fever. Clearer symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning can include:
- • Headache.
- • Weakness.
- • Dizziness.
- • Nausea or vomiting.
- • Shortness of breath.
- • Confusion.
- • Blurred vision.
- • Drowsiness.
- • Loss of muscle control.
- • Loss of consciousness.
Symptoms related to the nervous system and brain can come on after recovery from carbon monoxide poisoning. The risk of these is higher in people who lost consciousness from the carbon monoxide and older people. Symptoms might include:
- • Memory loss.
- • Personality changes.
- • Movement problems.
Carbon monoxide poisoning can be especially dangerous for people who are asleep, drugged, or drunk. Carbon monoxide can cause brain damage or death before anyone realizes there’s a problem.
When To See A Doctor
For possible carbon monoxide poisoning, get into fresh air and seek medical care right away.
Causes
Many fuel-burning products and engines make carbon monoxide. Most often the amount of carbon monoxide from these sources isn’t cause for worry in areas with good air flow. But if they’re used in a partly closed or closed space, the carbon monoxide level can be a danger. Examples are using a charcoal grill indoors or a running car inside a garage.
Breathing the fumes causes carbon monoxide to replace oxygen in the blood. This prevents oxygen from getting to tissues and organs.
Breathing in smoke during a fire can also cause carbon monoxide poisoning. And smoking through a water pipe, called a hookah, has been linked to increasing numbers of younger people getting carbon monoxide poisoning.
Risk Factors
Breathing in carbon monoxide can be especially dangerous for:
- • Unborn babies. Fetal blood cells take up carbon monoxide more easily than adult blood cells do.
- • Infants and children. Young children take breaths more often than adults do.
- • Older adults. Older people who have carbon monoxide poisoning may be more likely to get brain damage.
Prevention
To help prevent carbon monoxide poisoning:
- • Have carbon monoxide detectors in the home. Put them near each sleeping area on every level of the house. Check the batteries at least twice a year at the same time as checking the smoke detector batteries.
If the alarm sounds, believe it! Leave the house and call 911 or the fire department. Carbon monoxide detectors are also made for motor homes and boats.
- • Open the garage door before starting the car. Never leave a car running in the garage, especially if the garage is attached to the house. That’s true even if the garage door is open.
- • Use gas appliances only as intended. Never use a gas stove or oven for heat. Use gas camp stoves outdoors only. Use fuel-burning space heaters only when someone is awake to keep an eye on them and doors or windows are open. Don’t run a generator in an enclosed space, such as the basement or garage.
- • Make sure there’s space around fuel-burning appliances and engines. These include all gas appliances, space heaters and wood-burning stoves. Make sure they’re vented properly.
Have professionals set up all gas, oil or coal-burning appliances. Have a qualified service-provider service them yearly.
- • Keep fireplaces in good condition. Clean the fireplace chimney and flue every year.
- • Keep vents and chimneys unblocked during remodeling. Check that they aren’t covered by tarps or debris.
- • Do repairs before returning to where the poisoning occurred. If carbon monoxide poisoning has occurred in the home, find and repair the source of the carbon monoxide before staying there again. Have a qualified service person check and repair any appliances that might have caused the leak.
For More Information – https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/carbon-monoxide/symptoms-causes/syc-20370642
Health Articles
WET MACULAR DEGENERATION
Overview
Wet macular degeneration is a long-lasting eye disorder that causes blurred vision or a blind spot in the central vision. It’s usually caused by blood vessels that leak fluid or blood into the macula (MAK-u-luh). The macula is the part of the retina that gives the eye clear vision in the direct line of sight.
Wet macular degeneration is one of two types of age-related macular degeneration. The other type, dry macular degeneration, is more common and less severe. The wet type always begins as the dry type.
Early detection and treatment of wet macular degeneration may help reduce vision loss. In some instances, early treatment may recover vision.
Symptoms
Wet macular degeneration symptoms usually appear suddenly and worsen quickly. They may include:
- • Visual distortions, such as straight lines seeming bent.
- • Reduced central vision in one or both eyes.
- • The need for brighter light when reading or doing close-up work.
- • Difficulty adjusting to low light levels, such as when entering a dimly lit restaurant or theater.
- • Increased blurriness of printed words.
- • Difficulty recognizing faces.
- • A well-defined blurry spot or blind spot in the field of vision.
Macular degeneration doesn’t affect side vision, so it doesn’t cause total blindness.
When to See a Doctor
See your eye doctor if:
- • You notice changes in your central vision.
- • You lose the ability to see fine detail.
These changes may be the first indication of macular degeneration, particularly if you’re older than age 60.
Causes
No one knows the exact cause of wet macular degeneration, but it develops in people who have dry macular degeneration. Of all people with age-related macular degeneration, about 20% have the wet form.
Wet macular degeneration can develop in different ways:
- • Vision loss caused by irregular blood vessel growth. Sometimes irregular new blood vessels grow from the choroid under and into the macula. This is known as choroidal neovascularization. The choroid is the layer of blood vessels between the retina and the outer, firm coat of the eye, called the sclera. These blood vessels may leak fluid or blood, affecting the retina’s function.
- • Vision loss caused by fluid buildup in the back of the eye. When fluid leaks from the choroid, it can collect between the thin cell layer called the retinal pigment epithelium and the retina or within the layers of the retina. This may cause irregularities in the macula layers, resulting in vision loss or distortion.
Risk Factors
Factors that may increase your risk of macular degeneration include:
- • Age. This disease is most common in people over 55.
- • Family history and genetics. This disease has a genetic component. Researchers have identified several genes linked to the condition.
- • Race. Macular degeneration is more common in white people.
- • Smoking. Smoking cigarettes or being regularly exposed to tobacco smoke greatly increases your risk of macular degeneration.
- • Obesity. Research indicates that being obese increases the chance that early or intermediate macular degeneration will progress to a more severe form of the disease.
- • Cardiovascular disease. If you have diseases that affect your heart and blood vessels, you may be at higher risk of macular degeneration.
Prevention
It’s important to have routine eye exams to identify early signs of macular degeneration. The following measures may help reduce your risk of developing wet macular degeneration:
- • Manage all other medical conditions. For example, if you have cardiovascular disease or high blood pressure, take your medicine, and follow your health care provider’s instructions for controlling the condition.
- • Don’t smoke. Smokers are more likely to develop macular degeneration than nonsmokers. Ask your provider for help stopping smoking.
- • Maintain a healthy weight and exercise regularly. If you need to lose weight, reduce the number of calories you eat and increase the amount of exercise you get each day.
- • Choose a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. These foods contain antioxidant vitamins that reduce your risk of developing macular degeneration.
- • Include fish in your diet. Omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in fish, may reduce the risk of macular degeneration. Nuts such as walnuts also contain omega-3 fatty acids.
For More Information – https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/wet-macular-degeneration/symptoms-causes/syc-20351107