The Roanoke Times (Virginia)
Copyright 2006 The Roanoke Times
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that between 500 and 1,000 Americans are killed each year from carbon monoxide poisoning and about 40,000 people are treated annually in hospital emergency rooms around the country. Most of these deaths and illnesses pass as unnoticed as the silent killer gas goes undetected. Until a mass poisoning occurs — such as the one Friday morning on the campus of Roanoke College — and rivets the public’s attention.
Then we wonder: Why aren’t carbon monoxide detectors required in dorms, hotels, apartments, homes? The poison can’t be seen, felt, smelled, heard or tasted. Only a detector, that can be had for under $50, can signal the danger of faulty fuel-powered equipment.
Had detectors been installed, those staying in the Sections dormitories — adults attending the Lutheran Power in the Spirit Conference and teens attending the college prep program Upward Bound — would most likely have been roused by the alarms, scampered outside in their pajamas and, at worst, lost a few hours sleep.
Instead, 91-year-old Lutheran preacher Walter J. Vierling is dead and more than a hundred people were treated for carbon monoxide poisoning, a few cases serious enough to require hospitalization.
As bad as this tragedy is, it could have been far worse. The quick action to clear the building once people began waking and feeling terribly ill probably saved lives. And the response by local emergency workers on the scene and at Lewis-Gale Medical Center and Carilion Memorial Hospital to diagnose carbon monoxide poisoning brought prompt and correct treatment to the victims.
The same could not be said of a similar poisoning that occurred last month in an Ocean City, Md., hotel. A Pennsylvania family perished needlessly, as reports indicate the first responders and the local hospital initially failed to diagnose complaints of severe headaches and nausea as carbon monoxide poisoning, and did not evacuate all the rooms.
Carbon monoxide detectors in good working order would have sounded the alarm.
Several states require the alarms in residential buildings, laws prompted in response to needless deaths. Requirements for carbon monoxide detectors should prove no more burdensome than codes mandating smoke alarms.
Most likely lawmakers in Virginia and Maryland will be pressured now to push through similar legislation. In the interest of public safety, they should do so.