June is Home Safety Month: You can take steps to prevent injuries at home
The weather is warming up and the
last thing you want to do is spend the
summer in a cast or, worse yet, in the
hospital or dead.
Injuries are a major source of child
hood emergency department and hospital
admissions. According to the National
Safety Council and the National Center
for Injury Prevention and Control:
•
•
•
•
Injury is the leading cause of death in
children and young adults.
Falls are the leading cause of unin
tentional injury for children.
Nearly 300,000 children are treated
in the United States annually for
bicycle-related injuries.
Drowning is the second leading
cause of unintentional injury-related
death among children age 1 to 14.
The majority of drownings and
near-drownings occur in residential
•
•
swimming pools and open water sites.
Children, however, can drown in as
little as 1 inch of water.
Airway obstruction injury is the
leading cause of unintentional injury-
related deaths among infants under
age 1.
Approximately 45 percent of unin
tentional injury deaths occurred in
and around the home. Unintentional
home injury deaths to children are
caused primarily by fire and bums,
suffocation, drowning, firearms, falls,
choking and poisoning.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
You can take several steps to ensure
the safety of your home and family:
•
Learn CPR and make sure your
babysitter has been trained. Call your
local Red Cross or American Heart
Association for class information.
Keep this number posted - Oregon
Poison Control, 800-222-1222.
Install childproof door locks and
keep medications and potentially
poisonous materials out of the reach
of children.
•
•
Inspect your house for loose carpets,
extension cords and other fall hazards
for your safety as well as the safety
of visitors, such as grandparents, who
may be at risk for falls.
Require your child to wear a bicycle
helmet every time he or she rides a
bicycle, skateboard, skates or scooter.
Keep small objects away from infants
and toddlers.
Use appropriate car seats for children.
Keep firearms locked and inacces
sible to children,
Never leave small children unat
tended in pools or bathtubs.
Know the Heimlich maneuver and the
universal sign for choking.
Contact your area community health
advocate for a full checklist of home
safety items and request a house visit to
help make your house a safe place for you
and your family.
10 things you can do to help a friend or family member quit smoking
Express care. Skip the criticism.
• Try saying, “I really care about
you and I’m worried about your
smoking.” Talk about the reasons
you are concerned.
• It’s OK to let them know you care,
but be careful not to criticize.
2. Remember, the smoker will need to
make the decision.
• If a person isn’t ready, you cannot
talk him or her into quitting. Nag
ging, complaining or pressuring
will probably backfire.
3. Ask how you can help.
• If your friend is planning to quit, you
can say, “What can I do to help?”
• If they are not ready, let them know
you would like to support them
when they do decide to quit.
1.
Be patient with mood swings.
• When your friend does quit, get
ready for emotional ups and downs.
Bad moods are part of overcoming
physical addiction. They will pass,
usually within a few days.
5. Be “on call.”
• For some people, having a person
they can talk to when they are crav
ing a cigarette is helpful.
• If they need to talk often, reassure
them it’s not a burden. Tell them, “I
want to help.”
6. Offer encouragement.
• Encourage even the small steps.
Offer praise for thinking about
quitting or cutting back.
• Give extra encouragement during
the first few days of quitting.
4.
Encourage non-smoking activities.
• Take a walk together. It’s hard to
smoke (or think about smoking)
when you are physically active.
8. If you smoke ...
• Don’t smoke around the person
who wants to quit. It you live in
the same house, step outside for
a cigarette.
• Put your cigarettes away so they
won’t be a temptation.
• Consider quitting too. You could
support each other.
9. Be prepared for slips.
• Quitting for good can take several
tries. If the person slips, don’t get
mad or act disappointed.
7.
10. Keep up the support.
• Quitting smoking is one of the
hardest things a person can do.
It can be hard for weeks, months
or sometimes even years after
quitting.
• Celebrate one day, one week and
one month without smoking.
• Let your friend know how much it
means to you that he or she is no
longer smoking.
Tasha Mason
541 -444-9659 or 800-648-0449, ext. 1659
tasham@ctsi.nsn.us
Oregon Quit Line
800-QUIT-NOW
www.oregonquitline.org
Personal Finance and Real Estate
Yvonne Messmer, Housing Finance Manager • 503-390-9494 or 888-870-9051
If you are ready to buy a home:
If homebuying is a goal for you but you aren ’t ready yet:
Down Payment Assistance Program
Siletz Saves! IDA Program
If you aren’t ready to buy yet and you answer yes to at least one of these ques
tions, Siletz Saves! might be perfect for you:
You can find out by asking yourself some questions:
Do I have a steady source of income (usually a job)?
I have some credit issues I need to clean up.
I don’t have enough income to make a mortgage payment.
I don’t understand how everything works.
I am still in school but getting close to finishing.
Have I been employed on a regular basis for the last 2-3 years?
Is my current income reliable?
Do I have a good record of paying my bills?
The IDA Program is a matched savings program. It helps low-income Tribal
members understand their credit, correct credit issues and save toward the purchase
of a first home.
Participants in Siletz Saves! make regular deposits into a special savings
account, called an Individual Development Account or IDA. The amount saved
then is matched $3 for every $1 saved. That is a 300 percent return!
Participants are required to save for at least six months up to three years and attend
financial fitness classes, which teach participants how and why they should save.
Do I have few or no outstanding debts (like car payments)?
Do I have some money saved?
Do I have the ability to pay a mortgage every month, plus additional costs?
If you answered yes to these questions, then you might be ready. Give me a
call to find out about the Down Payment Assistance Program. It helps with closing
costs and a down payment when purchasing your first home.
The Power of Budgeting
Did you know that giving up that afternoon candy bar and pop every day could
save you a lot of money? Yup, just stashing away the $3 you would have spent on
calories would put $1,095 in your bank account if you did this for a year!
To find out more about how to budget, save money and improve your credit, call
me at 503-390-9494 or 888-870-9051.
June 2011
•
Siletz News
•
15
,