Carbon Monoxide Incident

The more I think about this, the more it “bugs” me. M was at a friend’s house on Friday night for a sleepover. While the girls (M and two of her friends) were watching a movie, the Carbon Monoxide (CO) detector sounded. Everyone (M, her two friends, the one friend’s mother, and the friend’s little sister) vacated the town home, and the authorities were alerted.

Maplewood Police, Fire, and an ambulance responded. Everyone was checked to determine the rate of oxygen in their blood, M and her friends had the little clip thing on their finger (pulse oximeter) to get the reading. The rescue folks were concerned about M because she reported having a headache, but that was apparently not caused by the CO.

It was later determined that the CO detector was activated by some fumes from the nearby parking garage. The air cleared, the authorities have the OK, and everyone went back inside. There were no further problems.

Here’s what bugs me – at no time during this entire episode, or after, did anyone call us, the parents. I realize it’s up to us to communicate with M and her friend’s mother that a phone call would have been expected, but I’m still amazed that the Police, Fire, or Ambulance staff never called. Granted the little clip on the finger is pretty standard, non-invasive procedure, but it’s a medical treatment nonetheless. What if someone had some sort of pre-existing condition, or medical problem, that would have been nice to know during treatment? M recalls the girls saying they were visiting for a sleepover. Were the authorities really OK assisting 10 year old girls without asking them to contact their parents? I realize the injuries were not life threatening (in that case I would expect them to act first, and contact later), but this seemed like a situation where a little parental involvement might have been necessary.

Interesting to note, the city of Maplewood had a page about CO on their website.

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