2342 on day 4 of CO Awareness Week
Yesterday we (Lynn and I) attended the Welsh event in the City Hall Cardiff. Joining and welcoming us to the venue was Judith Woodman Deputy Leader of Cardiff City Council. Judith holds the portfolio for Housing, Social Justice and Communities so was really the ideal person to address the issues of reaching both tenants and landlords. Also present was Dr. Rupert Evans who was ,until it was stolen, using the Rad 57 Rainbow Pulse CO Oximeter to measure carboxyhaemoglobin in patients exhibiting symptoms which could indicate exposure to carbon monoxide. I am pleased to say that such was the usefulness of this piece of equipment that following the theft, Dr. Evans arranged the purchase of a replacement unit and uses it extensively in the A&E via the duty staff. After highlighting the usefulness of the Rad 57, Dr. Evans then set out some ideas for a patient survey in three hospitals where Rad 57s would be used possibly by Triage Nurses to test all patients exhibiting symptoms which could be associated with exposure to carbon monoxide and a note would be taken of any patients who proved to have been exposed, but would not have been identified under the protocol which did not include the Rad 57. Dr. Evans said that funding this type of project may prove difficult and in answer to this he was offered help by those others with possible contacts who could make representation on his behalf. At this point we were
joined by Gareth, a local victim who unfortunately had been too ill to travel to the victims event in the House of Lords, opting instead to use the event in Cardiff to present his case. Having described, with some difficulty, how he had been poisoned by a next door neighbours appliance and the action taken by the Local Authority, Gareth received a very heartfelt apology from Judith in which she expressed her disappointment in the way the Local Authority had dealt with things and made some suggestions on what future action may be open to Gareth to take. Judith then went on to describe the various roles and duties thrust upon her by her portfolio and offered to introduce CO Awareness to some of the key players in the areas we had been trying to make contacts with. She also asked if we would be prepared to make a technical presentation to the Home Safety Forum, a body made up of key stakeholders in the home safety field when they held one of their meetings early next year. Unfortunately Judith had a prior engagement and had to leave the meeting at 12.00. Lynn and I thanked her for her attendance and extremely valuable input to the discussion. Following the departure of Judith Woodman, it was the turn of the Chief Executive of the Tenants Associations and organiser of the venue to give us a presentation of both his duties and responsibilities and the initiatives being undertaken both by and on behalf of the various tenants associations. He also made reference to problems with both tenants and landlords and outlined some of the measures taken to address matters. CO Awareness offered to give his organisation sight of the flyer being produced for distribution by Carlisle Council to landlords in their area setting out their roles and responsibilities in respect of their tenants. At this time Dr. Evans made his apologies explaining that he had to start work at 1300 and must therefore leave, what for him had been a useful and informative meeting. I will leave my narrative at this time because it is getting late and I must be up tomorrow for the last meeting in the Mechanics Institute here in Manchester. Before I close however I must apologise for the spelling and grammar mistakes made in the previous blogs and put it down to the lateness of the hour and the stress and strain of the events and the travel and hope that you will accept this as the cause. I hope to complete the diary of events tomorrow or Saturday.
Tony Brunton
