#49 � Keeping the Season Bright and Safe
Mauree Ward
Thank you for joining us for this episode of talking health in the 406 where we are one community under the Big Sky I'm your host Maureen ward the holidays are a time for joy family and celebration but also a time when preventable injuries fires and other accidents tend to increase today we're talking about how to keep our holidays safe. Warm and healthy here in. Montana I'm joined by Lou Antonik the city of Helena fire Marshall Joe McAnally an occupational health specialist Melissa Dale a falls prevention expert and Kira Dierickx a public health sanitarian together we'll cover everything from cooking and decorating to driving and winter work safety. Hi everybody thanks for joining today the first thing we'll do is go ahead and go around and just please do a quick introduction.
Joe McAnally
I'm Joe McAnally I'm the Occupational Safety and health manager for the Department of Public health and safety.
Melissa Dale
Hi I'm Melissa Dale and I'm the program manager for the falls prevention program.
Lou Antonick
Lou Antonick fire Marshall for the city of Helena Montana fire department.
Kira Flagstead Dierickx
Kira Flagstead Dierickx public health sanitarian with environmental health and food safety.
Speaker
OK.
Mauree Ward
Thanks again for being here today the holidays are such a wonderful time in Montana file full of family and food and fun but you know I think one of the things that we don't like to think about is that it can be a big time of year for injuries and illnesses so today we wanted to bring this panel folks together to talk a little bit about. How we can keep the holidays safe here under the Big Sky so I want to start with a general question for the 4 of you what do you think are some of the biggest safety concerns during the holiday? Then.
Joe McAnally
Yeah as far as workplace injuries we see a lot all year round is is slips and falls but it really increases during the winter months try to encourage everyone just to pay more attention to to to what they're doing we're in good footwear slowing down when the weather The Walking or driving you know for work or coming to work and things like that so. Really taking your time not slowing down.
Mauree Ward
Yeah we don't always think from day-to-day right it's still little things like getting out of our car when it's icy that can be a real. A real concern instead of some of the bigger things that.
Melissa Dale
We do the holidays they are fun festive time sometimes we kind of let the safety precautions go a little bit and so just being aware of what's around you and understand and especially for falling understanding what is. What is around you and what needs to how you need to? Stay safe.
Mauree Ward
We've got some great topics to cover today the first one. I know that I am one of those people where it is after November first and so I call it my soft opening for the holiday season I already have some Christmas lights up and a tree don't worry I promise Thanksgiving will get her fair due but I just I love this season with all the lights and everything is so pretty. But. With decorating being such a big part of the holidays I think it's also important for us to remember that there's a lot of danger that we have to keep in the back of our minds around you know fire danger and other dangers around decorating So what should people keep in mind as they're preparing to set up their holiday decorations their Christmas lights etcetera.
Lou Antonick
Right out of the shoot the first thing that we tell people is to take a look at their decorations like their Christmas lights. If they have parade or old Christmas lights in our strings of lights that are in rough shape get rid of them get brand new lights? Make sure that they're quality listed lifting means looking at the labels to see if they're UL listed or whatever listing agency there could be TL. UM. Don't overload circuits we see that quite a bit you know where people are really overloading circuits in their house you you want to be careful with that. Making sure that they if they have a live cut Christmas tree cut 2 inches off the bottom. You want to look for a healthy tree if you go. Into a lot. And then you want to make sure that you have the tree in water and don't let it get dried out. Once it gets dried out you know then we run into problems keep it 3 feet away. From you know she producing equipment channels were a big issue make sure that you know you're using candles safely don't have them next to Vertical Blinds or drapes or things like that or where they can catch things on fire don't you know if you could in a. Commercial building you know make sure that it's not in an area where it's a means of egress that gets blocked things like that just some of the the standard stuff and then of course you wanna make sure you have your smoke alarms or fully operational if something does happen. Yeah I mean those are probably the most critical.
Mauree Ward
Well and you brought up a good point there too about you know we don't just decorate at home right sometimes we also decorate offices or schools or wherever we may be spending time so Joe do you have any extra tips for us on what we should be thinking about in you know the work environment.
Joe McAnally
A big thing for whether it's work at home is if you're hanging something high up or from an elevation just make sure you using a a good step ladder or ladder have have somebody there to spot you hold your ladder things like that but you know never stand on like. I'm pretty sure that's unstable or like a fold up table or a chair with wheels you know at work we've had injuries because of that ended up being pretty severe so same type of things at home when you're decorating your house make sure that you you're able to do it safely a good step ladder doesn't cost too much and. Highly recommended that's something that you'd have decorated inside your house and if you're outside hanging lights think about it. Sometimes those are pretty high up is it that critical that we do that or is there a a safer place we can hang them lower and if you are getting on a ladder again make sure you have someone holding you and spotting you and using the ladder. Exactly and making sure the ladder is in good. Condition as well.
Mauree Ward
Well and I think too I've I've heard stories in recent years it doesn't matter how good the latter is if the ground you put it on has a patch of ice on it so being also aware of the ground conditions on where you're placing things like ladders it's a good reminder and I think too you know is there there's there's other potential faults hazards I think Melissa is there anything else you want to draw attention to in that area.
Melissa Dale
Yeah there's some things that people really don't think about when you're decorating typically you know we're bringing in new items into your living area or your your work area so to be aware of the new layout. Of the room and also to be recognized like where the main walking areas are and so keeping those main natural walking areas free of clutter because you can easily. Trip especially if you're on home you forgot your decorated or forgot where you put things and you're trying to go that night and you're trying to go somewhere you can easily trip over or something like that so just being aware where you place your decorations and then other things that can put people at risk is knowing where you're adding new lights such as Christmas lights and so. Making sure that cord from the Christmas light. String is not in the way of.
Mauree Ward
A.
Melissa Dale
Main walking path but to make sure you try and get as close to the outlet as possible and if you do have to have it in your way to go ahead and tack it down either with tape or attack and put it onto along the wall so that way there's no. Risk of tripping over any Christmas lights or cords from your. Questions. Some other things to kind of think about too while you're decorating is some visual things such as trying to just have not having flickering lights because that can actually cause the visual disturbance and then that can if somebody have a visual impairment they could. That can really distract them and they could trip or fall because they can't see as well things are flickering too much so having a steady light when you're decorating so some of those kind of things.
Lou Antonick
We really try to give people not to bring extension cords into buildings and houses a lot of the fires that happen are from extension cords. Still well we have a tendency to do is is have people if they can plug directly into an outlet or use a listed power strip surge protector type of device rather than an extension cord they they have different lengths of cord for a surge protector. For a power strip again that's listed you know that has the ability to be able to shut up. If if something does happen you know on top of the tripping and falling over you know are the extension cord a lot of times they're bringing in extension cords that are not rated or extension cords that? Are you know frayed or cracked and you know then we potentially run the risk of of that being on top of you know everything else that I talked about earlier with the Christmas lights things like that so? It's going to happen we know that but we try to you know tell people if that's the case to make sure that they get something that's new that is listed that isn't broken that isn't frayed that isn't cracked and then making sure that you unplug everything one of the big things along with all that is when people leave the house and go to parties or. Events or whatever you know or at night time even making sure that you unplug the lights and the extension cords things like that some of the biggest fires that have happened you guys have heard about the I was called the Buffalo chip in South Dakota which was a pretty big venue. That was the $30,000,000.00 fire I believe and the reason that fire happened was too frayed extension cords it kept getting run over by waitress staff. Using cards to deliver things and that's just an example of what can happen so we we really try to get people to stay away from eccentric cords because they're way over use and the problem is is they're not buying. A heavy duty extension cord they're buying $2.97 what we call zip cords in the aisles you know in Walmart and those things are even worse because they could come apart.
Mauree Ward
No thank you Lou those are great reminders decorating is a huge part of the holidays for me but I think another big thing for me is always the kitchen I love to eat I love to cook and so I would love to talk a little bit about kitchen safety and food safety because I think this also can be one of the most common places. For really easy mistakes to happen both for injury and for illness so I think kairav we could start with you. How can people? Stay safe when they're having large gatherings or they're going to large gatherings that involve food and leftovers.
Kira Flagstead Dierickx
I also love to cook I love the holidays and all the food that we. Get to eat. But as someone who works in environmental health and food safety I have seen how easily. Foodborne illness can happen especially around the holidays. We're usually you know serving larger meals than usual or cooking a lot more things than usual just more risk so I think the simplest way to prevent any sort of foodborne illness is remembering the 4 steps of food safety there is a song. I won't sing it but it's called clean separate cook and chill and it's a good way just to remember those 4 big things that you really need to pay attention to especially when preparing a large meal you know specifically around the. This.
Mauree Ward
Do you want to just hit each of those just briefly?
Kira Flagstead Dierickx
So clean you know we've all washed our hands as long as we've had hands and we knew that washing our hands was important so continue to do that washing your food contact surfaces so thinking about your countertops your cutting boards all that sort of stuff trying to keep your kitchen as clean as possible. During the cooking process extremely important one of the things that kind of comes in around the holidays that some people don't think about is not rinsing raw meat specifically poultry we see it a lot around Thanksgiving with turkeys. UM don't rinse that raw meat in your sink it's not necessary and there's been studies done that actually shows that washing these types of foods uh makes it more likely for bacteria to spread to areas around your sink and around your countertop so it's not necessary so don't do it. Separation same sort of thing keeping your raw stuff away from your pre cooked stuff trying to use different cutting boards in between our raws and our cooked foods. And making sure that we're we're not crossing tan. And eating. When we go in to cook a lot of people think that color is a reliable indicator of doneness but you should use a food thermometer make sure that stuff is cooked all the way through and we're not just going off off time or or look? Especially with Turkey as we get into you know the holidays and turkeys a big one using that food for the thermometer is extremely important and and putting it into the thickest part of the bird there's some really great videos online that will show you exactly how to temp your Turkey but when it reaches 165 that means it's done. But you have to know. Where to check it so usually into that innermost part of the thigh or the thickest part of the breast and then chill chills the big one as well so usually with big holidays we have a bunch of food it's all out on the counter everybody's eating and picking at it but we don't want it out there all night so for you know safety? Reasons we don't want that bacteria to grow in that food we wanna get it chilled down and cooled as fast as we can so so trying to get that uh you know leftovers and and your your holiday spread. Into the fridge within 2 hours is a really good number to aim for that's going to include anything that needs to be refrigerated so think of your your pumpkin pie your leftover stuffing things like that and then with chill you also think about defrosting especially with turkeys and and that sort of thing. You don't want to defrost on the counter top we don't wanna float that Turkey in the bathtub we want to give us plenty of time so for example a 20 pound. In Turkey usually needs uh 4 to 5 days to thaw completely in the refrigerator so that's the best way to do it get that frozen Turkey put it in the fridge and defrost it that way.
Mauree Ward
Yeah that's a good reminder I know even at home sometimes I put something in the fridge the night before and go to cook it the next night and you know might only be an 8 pound chicken but it's not totally defrosted yet and I'm like Nah luckily it's not a big holiday dinner and I can save it for the next night but it's yeah it it it never ceases to amaze me how long. It can take those big birds to thaw out. The fridge and other great reminders too I know I know you know one that always I have to think twice about is is this worth putting in the fridge how long has it been sitting out you know is it still gonna be good tomorrow and sometimes if it's a hard decision to throw food away but sometimes it's the best.
Kira Flagstead Dierickx
Decision yes 100% one of our big mottos in food safety is when in doubt. Throw it out it's not worth the risk.
Mauree Ward
Great well I love that when we were talking about the kitchen too Lou I I think there's a lot of people doing things in kitchens that they don't do other times of the year do you have any general safety reminders for things you see around the holidays as far as kitchen fires cooking safety from that perspective.
Lou Antonick
Cooking fires are typically the leading cause of fires in the country so when you go back and you look at the statistics through National Fire protection association. You'll you'll see that and a lot of it has to do I think it's even more prevalent now one of the big reasons is if you're in the kitchen and you're you know you're cooking and you're boiling something or you're frying something you need to stay in the kitchen. You know we talk about the 3 foot rule around the store with the oven. Uh you know no combustible a lot of people have you know combustibles or towels or decorations or whatever else that may be too close. Yes. And then you know if you're baking something you need to check on it and you know obviously you don't wanna have kids around the stove young kids around the stove. And uh you know things like leaving the handles turned in and stuff like that. If there is a fire you know turn off the stove cover it slide the cover over it don't remove the cover the lid I shouldn't say cover I should say lid if it's in the oven shut the oven off don't open the oven door you know and feed it oxygen let it smother? And then one of the things that we see is you know people have a tendency to to panic and grab the pan and try to run outside with it and we've seen some horrible accidents. Uh like people burn pretty severely with that and you know things like gauging the amount of oil you're going to use if you're going to fry something you know deep fat fry something so that it's not spilling over onto a hot stove I mean it's gonna it's gonna catch quickly. You know be careful with the fire extinguisher people go for a fire extinguisher and you may have a tendency on some fires because it's the wrong extinguisher to spread fire in the kitchen. Again you know not having smoke alarms smoke detectors in the kitchen area or near the kitchen area This is why we talk about sleeping area and adjacent to sleeping areas is because we don't want false alarms all the time you know the old saying about don't use the smoke alarm as a thermometer. But uh I would say the biggest thing is is that people you know can get preoccupied with binge watching a TV show or on their phone or whatever else and you know forget about the fact that the stove is on or the oven is on and that they have something in there and it's important for them to stay there. Am I would say that you know particularly with oils and things like that you you need to be really careful because it I think that's probably one of the higher rates you know where we see. Fires happening because of you know the stuff boiling over getting too hot or whatever else that's some basic stuff you know with with cooking safety as far as as fires are concerned.
Mauree Ward
Great thanks Lou yeah and I think you know when we're talking about having these big food centered festivities in our homes we are often bringing people into our home. That are not used to that environment and so I wanted to talk a little bit about how we can address other safety issues in our homes is we're welcoming people into them so Melissa maybe you could talk a little bit to us a little more about especially if we're hosting older guests how we might help to prevent any slips trips or falls for our guests. By how we arrange the furniture or anything else we can do with lighting or reduction of other trip hazard.
Melissa Dale
Some of the things that you can do first like as the outside just making sure that if there is snow and ice just to be sure to clear the path for the guests to come in if you have any steps or stairs to ensure that those railings are secured and then. Providing exterior lighting so that's just coming into the home once you get somebody in the homes and things to think about especially when you have guests. Just knowing that. You know once you have some rules Holloway holiday decorations up it can create some new shadowing and so just to be aware of maybe put light where there's some new shadows like if you have a Christmas tree it might be blocking an area out so you want to add some lighting there so people don't trip or stumble. By accident. UM for you know especially if you're older adults you know making sure you have seating available and especially if they have to use a Walker or cane or a wheelchair that you have enough room for them to be able to maneuver getting in and out of a chair with their assistive device there and then if you do have an overnight. Let's think about including some Night Lights in the hallways stairs and bathrooms just to keep everybody safe don't want the holiday season to be tampered by having an accident a false accident there.
Mauree Ward
No that's a great reminder I always appreciate Night Lights at other people 's houses because I never want to turn a big blaring light on but of course I don't know my way to you know the restroom in the middle of the night so I think that's that's one great tip and all of them are great tips. Thinking about also having overnight guests flu did you want to talk I know you addressed smoke detectors earlier but did you want to talk a little bit about any other kind of sort of house monitoring devices like possibly a carbon monoxide detector.
Lou Antonick
Yeah absolutely one of the things that I think that is most overlooked that it's important for people to do is escape planning escape planning. UM should include everybody and remembered always have 2 ways out of every part of the house right and if we're in the basement making sure that we have escape windows through windows that are rescue windows escape windows egress windows whatever you want to call them. We shouldn't have people in a basement if we don't have 2 ways out that's critical and the ski planning you know we teach over 800 kids in the second grade class and Helena every year during fire prevention week and. We have then go home and and develop an escape plan and and practice that with everybody and. That's the last thing on people 's mind especially during the holidays but it's something they should take a minute to do especially again going back to people that aren't familiar. With the house or wherever they're at that's critical and then carbon dioxide can't speak enough about carbon monoxide alarms carbon monoxide alarms should be on every level of the. Home. They need to be tested frequently just like smoke alarms they need to have the batteries replaced if they do sound it's important to get everybody out of the house and call 911. And then smoke detectors the best are interconnected that's typically what you see in most new construction but there's still a lot of single station smoke alarms that are out there and interconnected means that everything in the house is going to go off if one of them goes off. So it's important to test those it's important to make sure they. Unfortunately what we see a lot of still is people that hesitate and unfortunately it's adults more than it is kids you know adults will have a tendency because they can't see something. To assume that there's nothing there when you know they may not be able to see something in the walls or something in the attic space or something. Like that or it's just enough smoke that is activated one of those devices but smoke alarms and carbon dioxide alarms are critical fire extinguishers people should have fire extinguishers they should know where to put fire extinguishers you know we tell people not to put them in. Next to their furnace or their mechanical room or you know somewhere it's inaccessible but to have it where they can access it easily you know to be able to to put out a small fire. And call 911 it's important to call 911 you know listen to your intuition if something isn't right or you smell something you hear something you have a power failure or something happens it's important to get people out and get to a meeting place get somewhere safe call 911. And making sure that everybody understands that or knows that you know and knows what how to get out of an upstairs. And if it's too high off the ground you know and and you have to get a ladder they they have escape ladders you know that you can use for upstairs and the biggest thing in the world that I would tell people to do is close your doors doors doors are one of the most important safety devices. You probably all seen the clothes before you dose. Even during the day when you leave the house you should have all your doors closed we see it quite frequently and fires and but people are going to be much safer behind those doors. It's going to protect more of the house and prevent spread and especially at night time when people are sleeping you know we really try to encourage particularly kids sleep with their doors. So it's probably one of the most if not the most critical device in the house along with carbon monoxide and smoke alarms.
Mauree Ward
Thanks that's a good reminder I had her to you know to keep your door closed when you're sleeping I have heard that but I'd never heard about keeping it or thought about keeping it closed during the day too I mean obviously if you're not home and something happens you know that protection of property is something and yeah I think that's a small simple reminder as well as all of the other protective devices. Pass along.
Lou Antonick
Now 's a good time to have your fuel furnace your.
Joe McAnally
You.
Lou Antonick
Wood stove your chimney all those things cleaned and check. Before you start having a bunch of people over before you you know don't put it off. We're coming up on the winter months now is a good time to make sure that you you've done that also we see a lot of chimney fires this. Time of year. We see a lot of fires related to fuel burning appliances.
Mauree Ward
It's a great reminder thank you Lou was I wanted to wrap back around to you for just one quick second one thing I didn't hear you talk to but I I think I hear about it as far as a trip hazard is rug. When you're having guests over is there anything you recommend with having if there's anything special folks should do if they have rugs in their environment?
Melissa Dale
Rugs are a huge tripping hazard if you can go ahead and remove them but I know not a lot of we're going to do that so go ahead and either tack them down or you can take them down there's double sided tape rug that you can get and just put it underneath your rug and that way it will stay in place. Uh just wanted to kind of talk about some other things too just to make sure be aware of that's on your floor is wrapping paper that can be very slippery if you step on so make sure those are moved off one thing we don't think about too is pine needles can be deceptively. Slippery too and so making sure you're vacuuming around especially if you have a real Christmas tree vacuuming around that Christmas tree often so that way. Yourself or anybody who's in your home is not gonna slip and trip.
Mauree Ward
On that all right well I think we've covered a lot of stuff of what to do in your own homes but I know also along with the holiday season comes lots of traveling so I wanted to talk a little bit about. What we should be thinking about if we're traveling around the holidays obviously being in Montana sometimes traveling around the holidays can be very challenging with weather? And it's. Dark out so do you Joe let's start with you I know you work a lot with especially driver safety so is there some things you would like to share with us not only just about holiday travel but any general winter travel safety and how people can be prepared before they are on the road and things to think about on the.
Joe McAnally
Yeah so kind of going back to where we started with slips and falls I mean that's that's gonna be our biggest risk. Uh things that we do every day that we don't think about like getting out of your car that can be hazardous for example getting out of your car I recommend in the winter months you know there might be ice so always try to maintain 3 points of contact getting out of your vehicle so that would be. You know not. Just jumping out of your car quickly but it's kind of rotating over putting both your feet down and then as you stand up have one hand makes that 3rd point of contact on your steering wheel on your car door or something like that so in case you lose your footing you can catch yourself we're going to fall and then just general. OK you can have you know icy streets even if it's well maintained sidewalks sometimes you have to cross the streets so wearing good footwear something that we can all do to kind of protect ourselves if you have to wear dress shoes for work or for a party or. Or whatever you might be doing where where your goods snow boots or shoes with good traction as you come and go from your car and once you get into the you know the building go ahead and change into something more comfortable we always recommend to our staff especially our field workers to have some like traction device they put. Like the crowd with their their shares. Uh to prepare those in your vehicle so. You never know when you go out in the field. Well how well maintained of a parking area or or sidewalk or steps you're going to come across so just just something easy to throw in your in your car you know when you're traveling try to stay I mean well maintained walking pass I don't track across you know a snow berm or something like that unless you know really need to because we don't know. Snow burn that could be frozen underneath and that could cause a fall hazard itself so we can try to stay. John you know maintain pass limit what you're carrying to and from you know if you have to make a couple of trips instead of having your arms packed with presents or you know whatever you're carrying in into a building or not in your home just that way if you start to lose balance you'll you'll be able to kind of control yourself a little better if you do have to cross. Now nice you do the Penguin walk shuffle slow steps you're not carrying a lot so that you can kind of balance your. So and if you do end up coming across the area where you maybe you fall or that's really icy it's OK to you know get down on your on your hands and knees and and crawl across that area or after you've fallen and and get to a stable place to stand up now I've done that before I've helped people do that before in some of our you know parking areas where you have to like crawl to a safe place. That's OK it may look silly but you're not going to fall again right using hand rails on stairs and ramps and things like that also you can keep a wide mouth bottle full of like ice melting sand mixture in your vehicle so you can carry it with you throwing your purse. Whatever as you come and go from your vehicle. Help get some. Of those like trouble spots you might come across. I'll always be thinking about you know potentially black ice and whether it's driving or parking lot spaces that are shaded especially in the mornings it may look look clear and safe but it could have black ice on it can definitely be a tripping hazard avoid distractions of course you know of talking on the phone or texting while you're walking. Especially in the winter months tile floors we need to make sure whether it's the kitchen or entryways if there's a spill a lot of times snow gets trucked in in. The. Winters are we see this in our offices as well as their homes don't just let it sit there oh wipe it up really quickly spend an extra you know 23 minutes rent someone from slipping on it we've had some pretty bad injuries. You know in the workplace because. Of track and snow. As far as you know vehicle. Let's go just really make sure you're preparing your vehicle for winter look whether too tires getting your snow snow tires put on in time checking your tread on your tires tire pressure can change in the in the colder months so have a tire gauge I know a lot of us rely on like the gauges in your vehicle but it's also good to have an actual gauge. With you OK there's no no function with your your vehicle sensors. As far as traveling you wanna you'll try to keep at least a half tick of. Gas in your vehicle to help. What gas line freeze UPS if it gets really cold check your defrost make sure that works so I'd recommend changing your wipers out before you know snow hits changing your defrost and your your windshield wiper fluid making sure you have the right type in there so as it frees up and make it hard to see? Have an emergency kit with you then your vehicle with a blanket flashlight you know? Maybe a small shovel. Definitely I'll have good ice scrapers in your vehicle. Jumper cables different things you could use for traction whether it's sand or Kitty litter or stuff like that. We're really kind of taking the time when you're getting in your your vehicle like in the morning or whatever it's full of snow don't just clear off the window or like a 4 inch piece in front of your where you're viewing out but clear off your whole windshield your hood all your windows need to be clear as you know you have to back out and see other hazards that might be out there so. Now take the time to really clear off your your snow and scrape the ice good so you can see all the way around in your vehicle. Well. Also highly recommend getting that Mt travel app that you know you can put on your phone to watch road conditions cameras they have placed in the passes and and you know different areas that are kind of hazardous from time to time. And kind of plan around it give yourself more time to drive to walk everything really but can. You do you. Need to put off your trip a come by a couple of hours to make sure the snow clouds get out and have the time to clear out your mountain passes different things like that and and really driving just you need to really slow down don't think you always have to drive the speed limit. The winter you should slow down. Well just for the road conditions give yourself a lot of distance you know at least 5 to 6 seconds time between the vehicle in front of you you know to break stopping distances really increase when it the roads wet or it's icy or snow packed. Now avoid sudden movements as far as your vehicle goes as accelerating braking any more time to brake steering gradually generally don't use your cruise control of you might have again thinking back to the black I. You may think the road is nice and clear but then you get into those tanias and there's there's black ice or traveling. Over. A bridge or overpass so highly recommended not to use your cruise control in in winter or icy conditions if you get stuck you know try to stay in your vehicle call for help if you don't want to get out and kind of wander around and then become a hazard. For other drivers and then you get hit keep your hazards on pull over you know far as you can to the side of the road. Clear out your exhaust pipe if you need to stay in your vehicle so you may need to start your vehicle every 510 minutes or whatever to keep it warm but you wanna make sure your exhaust pipes are clear keep a window cracked different things like that or things you want to you know consider in the winter months and if you get stranded again it's a lot of just slowing down taking your time trying to plan ahead. And trying to do your best to. Make sure your vehicle is safe.
Mauree Ward
Thank you for those reminders Joe I think it's it's really important that we hear that I mean I think those of us who've grown up here and lived here you know we're we're pretty accustomed to driving and in most conditions but I think there is always that we really need to think every time we go out on the road you know should I be leaving right now where am I going what are the road conditions. Is my car ready for this and I think Lou too you 2 is of as a first responder for your career do you have anything else to add to that?
Lou Antonick
Yeah move over. I can't stress that enough slow down move over if there's an emergency scene ahead. Slow way down just from first hand experience you know being on the side of a highway. And uh in an emergency situation with a lot of vehicles passing by. That's huge and. Today's vehicles you know the inside of them you can pretty much lose yourself. And you know just make sure that you realize the emergency traffic that may be coming through an intersection or coming up on you but in the winter time. You know it could could be your emergency it could be your family 's emergency can't stress that enough you know that that is huge and couple of other things I'll just touch on with being outside his address make sure your address is visible it's super hard for us you know we go by address is everything is address. For police fire and medical. And clear the fire hydrants one year shoveling your sidewalk clear you know 3 foot space all the way around your fire hydrant so we get these really big storms and then what makes it even worse is when people are pushing snow. And a lot of times they're pushing it into areas you know with fire hydrants and we saw a lot of that last winter. But again I can't stress enough about move over it's critical.
Mauree Ward
I think it's just a reminder too that if if it really is not great road conditions or your car is not. Up. To snuff please stay home it stinks to miss the the holiday party at your family your friends house but it's more important that everybody 's still around tomorrow to continue to celebrate holidays together in the future.
Lou Antonick
Yeah emergency travel is emergency travel only when they broadcast that it's important the other thing I would say about clearing your sidewalks and putting down salt or rocks on around so you're also making a difference. Medically you know when we're trying to get into a place or bring a patient out you know whether it's a a business or a commercial building or a house. It's the same situation it's it's. So much easier if we have a you know clear side walk or as clear as can be to be able to get somebody. You know out of there in an emergency type situation.
Joe McAnally
Going off what Lou just mentioned too if the snow removal whether it's a business or at home put your snow in an area where it's not going to continually melt and refreeze every morning and creating a new hazard so think about you know drainage is that a big snow pile that's going to take a while to melt and if it keeps freezing you're going to have a new hazard every morning. I'll think about kind of where you're putting your snow whether it's your sidewalk your driveway your stoop or whatever. Because I could again be a continuous hazard that you have. To deal with.
Mauree Ward
Yeah we have a an area of our driveway that is is always a puddle and in the winter time it's always a patch of ice and it's it's a little bit unavoidable unfortunately until we redo our driveway but it is something we're at least aware of but you know it is like if we had any way to avoid it. We could and. I think you know it's a good reminder for other folks like push the snow where it's not going to just be melting right back into the middle of your driveway and turning into a. Sheet of ice yeah. You know and I think Joe you did a great job of talking just sort of in general about some of the other safety concerns about winter in Montana as we start to get the weather coming in here around the holidays and I wanted to see if anyone else had anything else they wanted to add around other safety tips or advice you have for folks with as we start to deal with the challenges of ice and snow. Coming into the holiday season.
Lou Antonick
Lighting is critical instead of the house and outside of the house. You know anytime obviously but particularly in the winter time or you know in conditions where there's a lot of ice and stuff like that I think that lighting is pretty critical you know to be able to maneuver. From outside to in or around the house or whatever else pretty critical.
Mauree Ward
Yeah it's so hard now with it getting dark at you know 5:00 o'clock at night before even some people are home from work so yeah leaving those outside lights on that we don't always leave on during the rest of the year so we can see getting into our house is even. Yeah.
Melissa Dale
You know take your time don't rush when you're rushing that's when accidents happen if something does happen such as a fall don't delay seeking treatment sometimes people think Oh well. The hospitals I want to burn the doctors or something like that it's the holiday season but make sure you go get help immediately so that way you can recover fully.
Mauree Ward
And as we get ready to wrap up does anyone else have any other last minute takeaways or safety tips just to keep Montana and safe and healthy this holiday season.
Lou Antonick
Yeah lithium ion battery safety. You know everybody has probably heard uh particularly in New York City the bigger cities you know where they're having problems there's a lot of E bikes almost everything I mean we're never going to get away from it we see it here in Helena. We saw it in I have seen it in you know commercial setting and residential setting. It's important that people understand that and you know respect that. So you know manufacturers recommendation don't overcharge when you leave make sure that you unplug the chargers only use the batteries that are designated for that device one of the problems they have in New York City. Has brought up which I concur with is? You know charging these bikes and stuff like that out in hallways or in areas where people need to be able to have Amazon egress and then you know they can't get out battery disposals you know check with. Your local folks and find out you know how to dispose of those properly. Problems you know obviously if you see a a malfunction or if there is a malfunction or something 's wrong you obviously don't use that the reason why I bring it up obviously is because you know. The fact that people are going to be using a lot of them for various things during the holidays like they do throughout the year but also because. We may end up with gifts or whatever you know what the lithium ion batteries but they're pretty unforgiving when they do go when it does go sideways. And the problem with them is is when they run away you know when you end up with. Something happened with them everybody's seen the videos about you know how dramatic and and devastating it can be so. Look at your manufacturers instructions they'll give you a whole list of them and it's important to take a quick look at those and see dos. And don'ts you know before you. Start to use whatever device you're using we've seen some pretty unfortunate events you know in residential structures and significant commercial structures not just business occupancies but. You know institutional occupancy things like that where these things have have caught and so just be careful with it and be. Aware of it.
Mauree Ward
Yeah I remember a couple of years ago one of the big you know top 10 gifts for kids for Christmas were those rechargeable hoverboards where you balance on it with 2 feet and they're rechargeable with the lithium ion batteries and if they turn into a whole thing on flights and you know lots of warnings were going out about. Possible fire hazards especially since. You know when you're buying things off of Amazon you're not always reading all those labels and you might not be getting the highest quality product that's been certified and I remember there was a big issue with those so we never know what's going to be ending up under a Christmas tree you know this year I don't know what the top 10 gifts are but seems like rechargeable is certainly you know the the way of the world. These days and all of those do come with with some level of fire hazard so I think that's a great reminder that you know just because it doesn't plug into the wall all the time doesn't mean that it doesn't potentially pose a hazard.
Kira Flagstead Dierickx
We talked a lot about driving and travel and going to parties and relatives houses if you are going to prepare something ahead of time just remember we want to keep cold food cold and we want to keep hot food hot so if you can you know pack a cooler to keep your cold food cold. Or if you have a hot dish that you're that you're delivering think about getting one of those insulated bags that you could put you can maybe your your crockpot or your hot dish into. Similar to like a pizza delivery bag we like pizza better when it's hot and fresh same with all of our other food we want it to be hot if it's meant to be hot one thing that also comes up around the holidays similar to washing that Turkey in the sink is the stuffing or the dressing depending on where you're from. People call it different things it's actually not recommended that you cook your stuffing inside. The Turkey uh you you can obviously if that is the way that you do it but I would recommend mixing your wet and dry ingredients separately and then combine them right before you put it at the Turkey and your Turkey if you are going to stuff it it shouldn't be stuffed full. It should actually be stuffed loosely about 3 quarters of a cup or pound of Turkey. And then any extra stuffing that you might have you could just bake that right in a casserole dish that's usually the easiest way to do it but if you wanna stuff the Turkey you can just be just be thoughtful about it and one last thing that I would remind people especially with the holidays is that we are going to. We with our friends and our family who may be immunocompromised. Foodborne illness specifically can be really severe and even life threatening especially to those at risk who you'll who will probably be present at your holiday get togethers so think about you know older adults in your life pregnant women infants young children. People who are taking medicines that suppress their immune system for example some medicines for like lupus or psoriasis or rheumatoid arthritis people who are taking those types of medicines or have other conditions their immune system is lower and so a foodborne illness. Can be really really severe so just be just be aware and and and make sure that you know we're we're keeping our food safe and our kitchens clean and nobody wants to get anyone?
Speaker
Like.
Mauree Ward
Well I'd like to thank all of you for joining today this has been great and I think it will be a great opportunity for montanans to just get some great reminders and hopefully learn something new I know I learned some new some new things today about holiday safety that I can take home and tuck in my back pocket so happy holiday season to everyone out there. And I hope everybody has a great new year. Thank you for joining us for talking health in the 406 where we are one community under the Big Sky a huge thank you to my guests for sharing their time and expertise to help keep our Montana holidays safe healthy and full of joy as you celebrate this season remember take your time plan ahead and check on your neighbors whether you're decorating. Cooking or traveling a little caution goes a long way for more resources please visit talking health in the406.mt.gov and if you found this episode helpful please rate review and subscribe it helps us to reach more montanans like you. Until next time take care stay warm and stay safe under. The Big Sky.