In this course, there are several assignments to go to other web pages and read their material. You will need to click on the following links and print the web pages out from these sites in order to complete the assignments:
ACTIVITY #1: Poison Safety Tips (http://www.optionsforhealthyliving.org/home/health/poisonsafetytips).
ACTIVITY #2: Poison Safety Checklist of Materials by Room ( www.wapc.org/pdf/education/Checklist.pdf) (Note: You will need Adobe Reader to open up this article. This free download can be found at Adobe Acrobat. )
Are we safer at home?
Most of us feel most safe in our own homes. But did you know that most injuries occur in the safety of our home? Home is where our biggest hazards lie! We become so used to living around them, that we forget they are there! Our homes are full of danger for children… but a little time spent in planning can make your home a much safer place.
Where are the places in your house that poison can lurk?
Look for these poisons in the Bathroom:
Acetaminophen, aspirin
All drugs and pills, medicine (cough syrup)
Iron pills, vitamins with iron
Shampoo, wave lotion and spray
Lotions and creams
Nail polish and remover
Deodorant
Toilet bowl cleaner, Pine Sol
Rubbing alcohol
Hairspray
CosmeticsLook for these poisons in Your Bedroom or Purse:
Sleeping drugs/medicineJewelry cleaner
Cosmetics
Perfume
Look for these poisons in the Garage or Basement:
Acids
Kerosene
Windshield washer solvent
Bug killer/Weed killer
Gasoline/Motor oil
Charcoal lighter fluid
Turpentine, paint, paint remover/thinner
Antifreeze (smells sweet and attracts pets)
Car cleaning supplies
CaulkingPaint
Look for these poisons in the Kitchen:
Cleaning solutions and waxes
Powder and liquid detergent
Cleanser & scouring powder
Drain cleaner/lye
Carpet & upholstery cleaner
AmmoniaOven cleaner
Cooking oils, non-stick sprays
Look for these poisons in Your Laundry Area:
Oven cleaner
Cooking oils, non-stick sprays
Food supplements containing iron
Bluing, dye
Bleach
Soap & detergent
Disinfectant
Spot remover
Look for these poisons throughout Your Home:
Rat Poison
Moth balls & spray
Outdoors Plants
Flowers
BBQ grills, Lighter Fluid
Alcoholic beverages
Batteries
Lamp or candle oils
Potpourri
Tobacco products
Glue, adhesives
Flaking paint
Repainted toys
Broken plaster
Carbon Monoxide
This Listing of Materials from taken from http://www.kids-safety-klub.com/child-poison-safety.html .
A poison is something that makes you sick or hurts you if you eat, drink, touch, or smell it.
Poisons come in four different forms: Solid, Liquid, Spray, and Invisible
Solid Poisons – can be chunky or chewy. Medicines in a pill or powder form are poison if not taken properly. Iron pills or food supplements that contain iron are especially dangerous for children. Children often mistake pills for candy. Plants are considered a solid poison. Powders are often poisonous. Laundry soap, dishwasher soap, powdered cleaners are all examples of poisonous powders. Granular substances such as pesticides and fertilizers are highly toxic. Berries are considered a solid poison.
Liquid Poisons – can be creamy, blobby, or runny like water. Liquids are a big concern with young children because they are easily swallowed. Children can get a bigger dose of poison because it is easier to swallow liquids than solids and they can get more into their little bodies. Liquids also absorb quicker in the body. Some liquid poisons include: lotion, cologne, liquid cleaners, liquid laundry or dishwashing soap, syrup medicines, furniture polish, flammable liquids, liquid floor cleaners, antifreeze, lamp oil, and alcohol (rubbing alcohol and beverage alcohol). Liquid poisons can even get into your body through your skin.
Spray Poisons – can be in an aerosol can or a bottle. Sprays can hurt you if they get into your eyes, your lungs, and can even get into your body through your skin.
Invisible Poisons -- can include gases or vapors. Carbon monoxide from hot water heaters and furnaces, exhaust fumes from automobiles, fumes from gas or oil burning stoves, and industrial pollution in the air.
ACTIVITY #1: To learn more about how to keep your home safe, read this short article on Poison Safety Tips (http://www.optionsforhealthyliving.org/home/health/poisonsafetytips).
ACTIVITY #2: Open up the Poison Safety Checklist of Materials by Room ( www.wapc.org/pdf/education/Checklist.pdf) by the Washington Poison Center. Print this article and go through the rooms of your home and look for potential poison safety hazards. (Note: You will need Adobe Reader to open up this article. This free download can be found at Adobe Acrobat. )
Poison Quiz
Take this quiz to test your knowledge of poison categories. Check the right answers and check your answers against the key at the end.
ANSWERS: 1. d. , 2. c., 3. b., 4. d. , 5. d
Plants in Your Backyard: Berries
Berries are attractive to children. They see us pick berries and eat them. Many of us enjoy the bounty Alaska’s plants have to offer. However, children assume if one berry is edible, the rest are too! Berries also look like candy to children. Teach children to leave all berries alone. Adults should be the ones to decide what is edible.
Here are a few of the common berries in Alaska that are poisonous. Read the information under each picture about the plants pictured.
Baneberry (Actaea rubra) – deadly poisonous! Coastal Alaska, southeastern / North beyond the Alaska Range to the Yukon River and east through northern North America . Note how the berry starts out white and turns red as it matures. Because baneberries look so attractive, these poisonous berries can be enticing to children in either form.
Red Elderberry (Sambucus racemosa) – poisonous Coastal from Alaska Peninsula south
Honeysuckle (Lonicera involucrata) – poisonous! Southeastern Alaska
There are many other berries that are not edible, but not considered toxic in small quantities. Make yourself familiar with the berries and plants in your local area and teach your children to use caution, too.
Mushrooms:
There are many different forms of mushrooms in Alaska. Many are edible, many can make you sick, and only a few are truly poisonous in a way that can make you seriously ill or cause death. However, it takes a true expert to be able to tell mushrooms apart because many look so similar. So for children, it is best to teach children never to eat a mushroom out of the wild, unless it is picked and prepared by someone who is an expert about mushrooms. Children should never pick and prepare mushrooms on their own.
Plants in Your Home: Household Plants
READING #1: From "Understanding the Regulations: What Alaskan Foster Parents Need to Know: Safety in the Foster Home." Published by the Alaska Center for Resource Families.
If you have children in your home, you should be aware of that some plants, trees and shrubs can cause injury or death if a portion of that plant tree or shrub is ingested or touched. The department may allow certain common household plans that are considered dangerous if it can be shown that children will be protected from harm.
If you have potentially poisonous plants in your home or garden, how are you protecting young children from possibly being harmed by them? Some plants may need to be removed, some plants may need to be set on higher shelves or hung from the ceiling or your garden may need to be fenced in, or plants moved to more inaccessible spots. Your licensing worker may ask you to put your plan of protection in writing. Part of that plan of protection will be to identify what you have that might be dangerous to children and how you will try to keep children safe. It is also suggested that you know how to treat accidental poisonings of the specific plants you may have in your home and have the number for your nearest medical facility or poison control center clearly posted near your telephone.
In the licensing regulations, the list of poisonous plants include:
- Flower garden plants, including autumn crocus, bleeding hart, chrysanthemum, daffodil, four-o’clocks, foxglove, hyacinth, hydrangea, iris, jonquil, lily-of-the-valley, morning glory, narcissus, and snow-on-the-mountain
- House plants, including bird of paradise, castor bean, dumbcane, English ivy, holly, jequirty bean, Jerusalem cherry, mistletoe, mother-in-law, oleander, philodendron, poinsettia and rhododendron
- Trees and shrubs, including black locust, boxwood, chokecherry, elderberry, English yew, horse chestnut, buckeye, juniper, oak, water hemlock and yew
- Vegetable garden plants, including asparagus, sprouts and greet parts of potato, rhubarb leaves, and green parts of tomato
- Wild plants, including belladonna, bittersweet buttercups, Indian hemp, jack in the pulpit jimson weed, larkspur, monkshood, poisonous mushrooms, nightshade, poison hemlock, poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, tobacco and skunk cabbage
POISONOUS PLANT STRATEGY FOR LICENSED FOSTER HOMES:
- 1. Identify plants in your living area and outside areas.
- 2. Develop strategies to prevent harm to children.
- 3. Develop a plan of action if a child is harmed.
Read the following story "Staying Safe at Fish Camp" to yourself or to a child 6 years or younger. When you finish reading the story, ask yourself or the child you read it to the questions at the end.
Staying Safe At Fish Camp
Andy and his friend Samantha were so excited. Andy’s dad told him he could bring a friend along to fish camp. Samantha, or Sam as everyone called her, was jumping up and down when she asked her auntie if she could go along.
Sam’s auntie was a little worried. Sam had never spent much time outside of her small village. Auntie was worried that Sam hadn’t been taught about all the dangers at fish camp. After all, there might be bears. Bears love to come around when the fish come up the river. And there was the cold river! Auntie had just begun to teach Sam to swim. She wasn’t very good at it yet.
After she thought for a few minutes, she winked at Sam and said, “Sam, if you’ll spend a little time with me learning about safety, I’ll let you go."
Sam was grinning from ear to ear. She’d never been away from home, and never been to fish camp!
Over the next few hours, Sam’s auntie went over a lot of safety rules.
“Sam,” she said, "you’re my precious little one and I want to keep you safe.”
They talked about staying close to Andy’s dad.
“Wandering away from the grownups isn’t a good idea,” Auntie said. “You could get lost and we might never find you."
“Remember that building the warming fire is not your job. You should always let a grownup do that.”
Auntie tried to remember everything she could about the dangers at fish camp. Sam began to wonder if her auntie knew everything about safety!
The next day, Sam ran to Andy’s house. He was all ready to go, waiting for her near the four-wheeler with his dad.
“Here, Sam, put this helmet on,” Andy said. “ Dad won’t let us go anywhere without it.”
It was a long ride to fish camp. By the time they got there, Sam thought she couldn’t ride another mile on that machine! She was glad to put her feet on the ground again.
Sam couldn’t believe her eyes! There was a big fish wheel that went around and around in the river. There was already a little camp set up. Sam and Andy ran over to the water's edge.
“Hold on there!” called Andy’s dad. “You kids don’t go anywhere near the river without your life jackets! In fact, even the grown-ups wear life jackets near this river. It’s a fast one!”
Andy and Sam decided they would go play around the camp instead. They took off and headed toward the smokehouse. Behind the smokehouse, Andy and Sam found all kinds of things to get into. There were cooking pots and fishing supplies. They found spoons to dig in the dirt and buckets to carry things. This was a great place to play! Sam found a tool box that had knives and ulus in it.
As she went to pick them up, Andy yelled “Wait!”
Sam looked up. Andy reminded Sam that those were tools that only grownups use.
“We have to put those back,” he said. “My dad won’t let us use those. He says we could get hurt, so we’re not allowed to play with them.”
“Okay,” said Sam, “I’ll take this bucket out there instead.” Sam pointed to the bushes just outside of camp. She grabbed her bucket and ran away from Andy, giggling as she went. Andy decided to stay at the smokehouse. He was more interested in digging in the dirt than Sam was.
Right away, Sam saw beautiful white berries all over the place. They were everywhere! When Sam ran into the bushes, she kept the bucket with her.
“I’ll put these berries in the bucket and take them back for dinner,” she thought. “Everyone will be so excited. We can eat them for dessert.” Sam was so proud of herself. She just knew everyone would love her idea!
Sam worked and worked. She filled about half the bucket with those beautiful white berries. Andy finally got tired of playing in the dirt and ran out to join her.
“What are you doing, Sam?” Andy yelled as he got closer to her.
“It’s a surprise,” she yelled back.
Sam quickly hid the bucket behind her so Andy wouldn’t see.
“After all,” Sam thought to herself, “it would ruin the surprise.”
Andy started circling around her.
“What are you hiding, Sam?” he asked. Just then, Andy saw the bucket behind her back. “What’s that?"
“Just a bucket full of tasty berries for dessert,” she replied. As she said that, she reached into the bucket and started to put a berry in her mouth.
“Wait!” screamed Andy. He jumped toward her and pushed the berry out of her hand.
“What did you do that for?” she said, a little upset that he would knock the berry out of her hand.
“We can’t eat those,” said Andy. “You’ve got to dump the whole bucket out!”
Sam was still a little mad at Andy. “Andy, what’s wrong with these berries? They look fine to me!.”
“Those berries are poisonous,” said Andy. “If you eat those, you could get really sick and out here, we can’t get to help fast enough. My dad taught me all about the berries out here. There are a few we can eat, but those aren’t the good ones. The rule at fish camp is that we can’t pick berries unless there is a grownup with us.”
At that moment, Sam realized that her auntie didn’t tell her everything about the dangers in fish camp. She was glad Andy had been there to help her. After that, Sam stayed really close to Andy and his dad. She knew she had a lot more to learn about safety!
ASSIGNMENT: Ask yourself these questions and write down your answers. When you are done, compare your answers to those given below.
What were the potential safety hazards in this story?
How did the children protect themselves from potential harm?
What other safety precautions did the children and the adults take to keep everyone safe?
Staying Safe At Fish Camp
What were the potential safety hazards in this story?
They included being near a very cold river, being around fires, being near the knives and ulus used for cutting up the fish, the potentially dangerous berries in the brush, being on a four wheeler, being in an area where there might be bears, and the possibility of getting lost in a new place.
How did the children protect themselves from potential harm?
Andy prevented Sam from using the ulus, by reminding her to wear helmets on the four wheelers, and by telling Sam about the poisonous white berries. He shared his knowledge with her and kept her safe.
What other safety precautions did the children and the adults take to keep everyone safe?
The children and the adults took lots of preventive actions to keep everyone safe. Her auntie took time to teach Sam about safety rules including that only adults are allowed to build fires, teaching her to swim, and teaching her not to wander away from adults. Andy reminded Sam of the rules that adults had made for him including wearing a helmet when riding on the four wheeler, having to wear a life jacket when working on or near the river, and knowing about the kinds of berries that can be poisonous.
You have completed LESSON ONE: Identifying Poisons In Our Home and Environment. Click here to continue to LESSON TWO: Learning To Keep Kids Safe in Our Homes.
