Category: Safety
With the coming winter rains, there is an increased risk of flooding in the Seattle and Puget Sound area. The Seattle Red Cross has tips for keeping safe in the event of a flood. Among the Red Cross’s tips are: Have an evacuation plan and practice it. Make sure everyone knows how to shut off [...]
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has safety tips to help you avoid food poisoning during the upcoming holiday season. Incompletely cooked turkey, inadequately refrigerated leftovers and other perils can lead to painful but avoidable bouts of illness. The very young, the very old, pregnant women and people with impaired immune systems are particularly [...]
The end of Daylight Savings is a good time to change your smoke alarm batteries, the Seattle Red Cross says. Smoke alarms batteries should be changed twice a year, says Carol Dunn, a community disaster educator for the American Red Cross. “To make it easier to remember, make the change when you change your clocks [...]
Under new rules, Medicare will no longer pay hospitals for care needed because of medical errors. In her regular column, Dr Carolyn Clancy, director of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, says the new rules should help make hospitals safer and improve the quality of hospital care.
Seattle Red Cross has sent out safety tips for parents of Halloween trick-or-treaters to help the parents “prepare their children for a safe and enjoyable trick-or-treat holiday.”
More than 4,000 teens aged 16 – 19 year are killed in motor vehicle accidents a year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention, and nearly 400,000 needed emergency room treatment for injuries.
Exotic pets, such as turtles, lizards and snakes—and even less exotic creatures, such as be mice, gerbils and animals in petting zoos and pet stores—can transmit dangerous infections to children, the US Centers for Disease (CDC) and Prevention warns.
Seattle Red Cross is calling for people to nominate “Everyday Heros”, individuals who may have saved a life performing CPR or pulling someone from a burning building or has raised money to help someone in need. Winners of the Red Cross’s “Everyday People, Everyday Heroes” awards will be honored at the Red Cross’s Thirteenth Annual [...]
Thirteen of 41 booster seats tested by the two safety institutes did such a poor job improving the fit of lap and shoulder safety belts that the institutes says they cannot recommend them at all. The evaluation was done by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.
Seattle supermarkets and other food retailers are now required to label certain food products so that customers can tell which country their food comes from. Under the new federal regulations that go into effect today (Sept. 30), retailers must provide “Country of Origin Labeling” for beef, lamb, pork, chicken, goat, wild and farm-raised fish and [...]
More than one in three US adults age 65 or older will fall this year. In fact, falls are the most common cause of nonfatal injuries and hospital admissions for trauma in this age group. F The consequences can be serious: in 2005, for example, almost 2 million people 65 and older were treated in [...]
LocalHealthGuide is a health news and information web service for Seattle and the Puget Sound Region. We are independent and unaffiliated with any hospital, medical association or insurer. If you have questions or if your group has an upcoming event that you would like us to cover, please let us know by going to our "Contact Us" page and dropping us a note. -- Michael McCarthy, Editor
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Seattle Times Health News
Lost in translation: Lack of trained interpreters can lead to medical errors
Interpreter services at hospitals and other medical settings are often inadequate, forcing family members, including children, to step in, or the task falls to medical staff members who may not speak the language well.
Some insurers deny ER coverage to people who have been drinking
Laws in more than half the states permit insurers to deny payment for medical services related to alcohol or drug use. Faced with the prospect of not getting paid for care, some ER personnel sidestep the problem by simply not testing patients’ blood or urine for alcohol.
Travel insurance can protect your wallet — and your health on vacation
Think your regular health insurance policy will cover you if you get into medical trouble overseas?
Don’t bet on it.
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