Simple safety measures could avoid dangerous accidents in the home, city health officials reminded parents after several recent incidents that injured children.
Olivia Farrow, interim health commissioner, joined forces with the Baltimore City Fire Department and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to review injury prevention tips Friday - just hours after a local carbon monoxide incident and the day after a 9-year-old boy fell from a third-story window in West Baltimore.
"The real impetus for the press conference was the tragic self-strangling of Mike Tyson's daughter several weeks ago," Deputy Chief Fire Marshal Raymond O'Brocki. "It really shined a light on child safety in the home because it was so preventable."
Tyson's 4-year-old daughter was strangled with the cord from a treadmill, but O'Brocki warned that such tragedies can result from common household items like the cord from a venetian blind. He stressed the need to stay attentive and supervise children.
Working smoke detectors are also key to a safe home, O'Brocki said. The Fire Department is giving away batteries for smoke alarms that don't need to be replaced for 10 years, in an effort to lower the fire death rate in the city.
Madeleine Shea, the health department's assistant commissioner for healthy homes, said carbon monoxide detectors are just as important as smoke alarms. "Especially as we get into the summer storms and people might be using generators, this could save your life," she said.
Summer comes with other potential dangers: Parents need to make sure their children are supervised at the pool and well-washed after the playground.
"Some outdoor playing equipment has arsenic in it," said Shea.
Sarah Norman, the health department's director for lead, asthma and injury prevention, said lead is also a common poison, which parents can avoid with good home maintenance and hand-washing.
Everyone may know to wash their hands, but Kira McGroarty, project director for the school of public health's Mobile Safety Center, said many families lack information on and access to injury prevention products.
The Mobile Safety Center offers discounted safety equipment and interactive exhibits. The program's beginning a new ad campaign Monday.
