Rotary Club distributes free carbon monoxide detectors

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com 

A Charles City service club is adding to the number of programs it has initiated to promote health and safety in the community.

The Charles City Rotary Club is delivering 400 carbon monoxide detectors to licensed day care providers and the families they serve, preschool families and senior citizens. In addition, each Rotary Club member will have three CO detectors to use personally or to give to others as part of what the club has dubbed the “A Breath of Fresh Air” project.

The CO detectors were purchased through club funds including the result of a recent soup supper that raised almost $3,000 and a matching grant for $2,738 from the Floyd County Community Foundation. A Thrivent Live Generously grant of $250 also helped by covering some of the costs of the soup supper.

Previously the club has distributed free fire extinguishers and free first aid kits in the community.

Staci Ackerson, the current Rotary Club president, said she has had a personal experience with carbon monoxide poisoning and she promoted the project. Chris Garden, the chairman of the club’s service project committee, helped organize the project and purchase the detectors.

Carbon monoxide is a deadly gas that cannot be seen or smelled but that can cause severe illness or death within minutes. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), carbon monoxide displaces oxygen in the blood and causes suffocation by depriving the brain and other organs of oxygen.

Carbon monoxide can build up from any appliance or motor that burns fuel and is not operating or vented properly, such as furnaces, water heaters, gas stoves, vehicles operating in closed garages, propane or kerosene heaters, fireplaces, etc.

Carbon monoxide poisoning is most common in the winter when houses are closed up tight and when some of these appliances are more likely to be in use.

Charles City Rotary Club members regularly participate in community service projects that follow the club’s motto of “Service above self.”