Congratulations. No matter what kind of day you’re having, one thing you can go to bed thinking about tonight is the life you saved.
That’s right, you saved a life today.
Not theoretically, not “oh, this is just some sappy inspirational post…” You really, truly saved a life today.
You know that little girl down the street that your daughter plays with after school? Maybe it was her life you saved because you took a moment to repost this in your neighborhood’s Facebook page, and her dad realized he hadn’t replaced his CO detector in over 10 years. He didn’t know the parts that detect carbon monoxide gas only last five, maybe seven years.
Your buddy from college, the one whose wife just had a baby? Maybe you saved their lives, because he decided to finally call someone to look at that old heater in the basement that’s been “acting up.” Because he got this post that you re-Tweeted.
The woman that works in accounting at your office, whose daughter just got married to her high school sweetheart? Maybe you saved their lives, because she decided to put a CO detector in the newlywed’s Christmas stocking. Because you printed this out and put it the break room at work.
I’m not sure whose life you saved. But every year, over 500 people die from carbon monoxide poisoning right around this time of year. People turn their heating systems on and vent pipes malfunction. People start using their fireplaces and flues get stuck or chimneys get clogged. Storms hit, power goes out, and people pull out their portable generators. Carbon monoxide is silent, colorless, odorless. By the time most people notice symptoms of CO poisoning it’s too late – they fall where they are and they die there. And their families – their spouse in the other room, their children asleep upstairs, they die too. And they don’t have to. Not a single one of them.
We’ve all learned that we need smoke detectors in our home, but smoke detectors aren’t necessarily CO detectors. And both smoke detectors and CO detectors have internal components that age and fail after about 5 years. Here’s the message we have to spread.
You need to have a CO detector in your home.
You need to replace it every five years.
You need to remind your friends and family and everyone that matters to you.
You can do this. You can click on one of the share buttons below and use the strength of your social media network to pass this message along. And if you do, and the people you pass it along to do the same, this message will eventually make it’s way to someone who acts on this reminder and protects themselves and their family. It may be someone you know or it may be a stranger. But sharing this message will save a life. And that makes you a hero.
Later this year, on another long cold overnight shift, someone will be brought in to an emergency room somewhere for a quick wellness check after waking up to the sound of an alarm going off in their house. Their CO detector. That you played a part in reminding them to get.
That’s the life you saved today. Good work Safety Ranger.
