Friday, January 11, 2008

It's child abuse

Per Health Department standards we must acquire 15 hours of wellness credits a year. Usually they are the same boring rhetoric discussions that are about as engaging as running your fingers down the black board. This year they actually changed one up and I listened to a few facts and figures. Usually our smoking presentation is a dead one sided discussion yes, we know smoking is bad don't do it. We roll our eyes and finish our sudoku. This year it focused on ETS otherwise known as second hand smoke so I perked up being the Indoor air professional this was up my alley. One figure really stood out though, if a person is exposed to eight hours of second hand smoke it is equivalent to smoking an entire pack of cigarettes!!! My mind raced over all the God awful inspections I've done for sick infants and children at the hands of parents who are too lazy to take their habit out side.

Let me explain how it usually goes.........I receive a call requesting an Indoor Air Assessment at the home of a child who has just been at the Emergency visit for some URI or acute Asthma attack. I don't even have to open the door before a waft of smoke hits me like a brick. Sometimes the CO levels are so high in these residents that I am surprised the smokers don't pass out. I cannot fathom what kind of parent would rather put their own child at that kind of risk then pick their lazy selfish butt up and go outside to feed their addiction. I think that smoking in the home with children should be considered child abuse.

1 comment:

The Unusual Farmchick said...

Dont forget about in the car! It never fails to see parents with windows "cracked or even down- either way the smoke is forced to the back and circulate through the car... If they can ticket you for no seat belt with them saying it was not done, why why not smoking with a minor in the vehicle?