Free Home Health and Safety Reviews

The Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma's environmental department is offering free health and safety reviews of homes and home-based daycares through EPA's Healthy Environments and Living Places (H.E.L.P.) for Kids Project. The program was started to develop action plans for health and safety hazards found in homes and outdoor areas where children spend most of their time: home, school and child care. Most children's time is spent indoors and outside near the home. These areas often contain many potential health and safety dangers. The project focuses on prevention and improvement action plans that use low-cost and no-cost approaches.

The goals of the project are to identify health and safety hazards to children and increase awareness by providing action plans and information so that the program can best suit your needs.

A personal checklist and action plan will be mailed out to those interested in participating in the program. This checklist will help you to recognize health and safety conditions in and around your home that may be a danger to your family.

A trained reviewer will schedule a visit to your home to complete the home review checklist. The goal of the home visit is to identify ways your home can become a healthier place for you and children to live. Our focus is on children, who are more likely to develop long-lasting health problems, like asthma and lead poisoning, from contact with health and safety hazards.

The checklist will take about an hour to complete, so schedule your appointment to allow enough time. All information is kept private and confidential.

After the checklist has been completed, you will receive a home action plan and handouts that describe hazards found during the review and actions to fix the problems. You will be given a list that identifies local resources for solving specific problems.

If you are interested in a health and safety review for your home or home-based daycare, please contact April Crouch at (918) 666-5151 x209.

TAKE THE SMOKE-FREE HOME PLEDGE TODAY!

Join the millions of people who are protecting their children from secondhand smoke.

“I pledge to protect children from the health risks of secondhand smoke by keeping my home and car smoke-free.”

Pledge to Keep Your Home and Car Smoke-free in 3 easy steps:
1. Go to the Pledge Page and read helpful information on making your home and car smoke-free.

2. Simply enter your five digit zip code and push the submit button. (Your pledge is completely anonymous).

3. You're done! You can even get your own Smoke-free Home Pledge Certificate by double-clicking on the certificate. Proudly display this to let your children, family and visitors know you have taken an important step to keep your home and car smoke-free. Once you pledge, you can:
• print out your Smoke-free Home Pledge Certificate to display in your home
• learn more tips on keeping a smoke-free home and car
• get information on how to order the Smoke-free Home Kit

Help protect your children from secondhand smoke. Children who breathe secondhand smoke are more likely to suffer from:
• Bronchitis and pneumonia
• Wheezing and coughing
• More ear infections
• More frequent and severe asthma attacks

Breathing secondhand smoke is linked to:
• Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
• Low birth weights

Secondhand Smoke Can Make Children Suffer Serious Health Risks
An estimated 38 percent of U.S. children 6 years of age or younger are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke in the home. Breathing secondhand smoke can be harmful to children's health including asthma, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), bronchitis and pneumonia and ear infections.
The developing lungs of young children are severely affected by exposure to secondhand smoke for several reasons including that children are still developing physically, have higher breathing rates than adults, and have little control over their indoor environments. Children receiving high doses of secondhand smoke, such as those with smoking mothers, run the greatest risk of damaging health effects.

A few basic actions can protect children from secondhand smoke:
• Choose not to smoke in your home and car and do not allow family and visitors to do so. Infants and toddlers are especially vulnerable to the health risks from secondhand smoke.

• Do not allow childcare providers or others who work in your home to smoke.

• Until you can quit, choose to smoke outside. Moving to another room or opening a window is not enough to protect your children.

For more information on secondhand smoke, see EPA publications and Take the Smoke-free Home Pledge 1-866-SMOKE-FREE (1-866-766-5337).

The Smoke-free Home Pledge Initiative is designed to educate parents and caregivers about health risks to children from secondhand smoke exposure and encourage them to commit to providing a smoke-free environment in their homes and cars.

Note: No personal information, such as name or address, will be documented or used by EPA. EPA only tracks pledges by ZIP Code.

LEARN, DON’T BURN!
Burning household waste produces many toxic chemicals and is one of the largest known sources of dioxins in the nation.
• Dioxins are highly toxic, long-lasting organic compounds that are dangerous even at extremely low levels and have been linked to cancer and developmental and reproductive disorders.
• Smoke from burn barrels contains hazardous pollutants such as particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, lead, mercury, and hexachlorobenzene. These pollutants can have immediate and long-term health effects such as:
• Asthma, emphysema, or other respiratory illnesses.
• Nervous system, kidney, or liver damage.
• Reproductive or developmental disorders.
Smoke from burning residential trash stays close to the ground.
• Not only are the people who burn trash exposed to these pollutants, but so are their families and neighbors.

• Small children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with asthma, emphysema or other lung problems are at the greatest risk of harm.
Ash residue from backyard burning is also dangerous.
• Ashes can contain toxic pollutants, such as mercury, lead, chromium, and arsenic, which can contaminate vegetables if scattered in gardens.
• Children can accidentally swallow toxic materials from dirt on their hands while playing near discarded ash.
Burning certain materials, such as plastic, is especially dangerous.
• PVC (polyvinyl chloride) can release hydrogen chloride gas. This can form hydrochloric acid and cause fluid build up and sores in your lungs. PVC plastic is used in making bottles and jugs.
• Products containing polyurethane can release hydrogen cyanide. Exposure to high concentrations of hydrogen cyanide gas for 30-60 minutes can cause death. Products include drapes, furniture foams, wood finishes, sealants, adhesives and many other products.
• For more information on the dangers of burning other materials, click here.
There are many alternatives to open burning such as recycling and composting.
• When you choose to recycle instead of burn, you save trees and other natural resources from being used up, plus you keep a lot of pollution out of the air.
• Composting is a great way to reuse your yard and kitchen waste. Placed in the right conditions, your left over food scraps and lawn clippings can become a wonderful nutrient rich soil for your garden.
For more information about the health effects of backyard burning, please visit EPA's Backyard Burning website.