It’s finally here: spring! It’s time to open the windows to let in some fresh air!

But wait, this also is the time of year when you hear news reports about small children falling from windows. In fact, every year, thousands of children fall from open windows causing serious injury or death. This year, there already have been at least two incidences in our area.

Window screens are not enough. They are made to keep bugs outside – they won’t keep children inside. There is an effective device that can help protect children from falling out of windows – window guards. These guards are easy to install and have a release mechanism in case of an emergency.

Remember, no device replaces active parent supervision. Safety items such as window guards are an aide to help busy, overworked parents.

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Yea, it’s April! Spring has sprung, and that means cold and flu season is over, right? Wrong. Unfortunately, it’s hanging on. So, we have to continue to be good hand washers. After all, that is the best way to stop the spread of those pesky bugs.

Get your kids into the hand-washing habit early. Teach them to:

• Wet hands with warm water to kill germs.
• Place a small amount of soap in palm of the hand. (Turn off the faucet to save water.)
• Rub hands together quickly, rubbing soap between fingers, on backs of hands and lightly scratching fingernails on palms of hands. Rub for as long as it takes them to sing their ABC’s or “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”
• Turn on warm water. Rinse hands well, being sure to scrub while rinsing. Point fingers down in sink. This will rinse germs off hands.
• Dry hands, making sure they are completely dry.
• In public restrooms, when possible, turn off the water and open the door with the paper towel in hand. This will help prevent picking up more germs.

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Did you change the batteries in your smoke alarm this past weekend as you turned your clock forward? How about your carbon monoxide detector? Carbon monoxide or CO detectors may not be as familiar as smoke alarms to some people, but they are just as important. And now, they’re the law.

Just like smoke alarms, CO detectors now are required in single-family homes as well as duplexes. They already were required in multifamily homes or apartments.

More than 15,000 people are treated for unintentional CO poisoning each year. CO is extremely dangerous because it is a colorless, odorless gas that only can be detected by installing CO detectors.

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