Al's Morning Meeting

Look at this chart:

Table 1. Unintentional Home Injury Deaths. Average Annual Number, Percentage and Rate (per 100,000 persons), All Causes, U.S.,1992-1999.

Cause of Death	Number	Percentage	Rate
Fall	5,961	33.0	2.25
Poisoning	4,833	26.8	1.83
Fire/Burn	3,402	18.8	1.29
Choking/Suffocation	1,092	6.1	0.41
Drowning/Submersion	823	4.6	0.31
Firearm	590	3.3	0.22
Natural/Environment	427	2.4	0.16
Struck By/Against	285	1.6	0.11
Miscellaneous	230	1.3	0.09
Unspecified	215	1.2	0.08
Machinery	127	0.7	0.05
Cut/Pierce	60	0.3	0.02
Overexertion	3	<0.1	<0.01
Motor Vehicle	0	0.00	0.00
Pedal Cyclist, Other	0	0.00	0.00
Pedestrian, Other	0	0.00	0.00
Transport, Other	0	0.00	0.00
TOTAL	18,048	100.0	6.83

Data Source:National Vital Statistics System, 1992-1999.

The number one cause of home injury deaths is "falling." Not guns, not poisons, but falling. In addition to those deaths, more than 5 million Americans were hurt in falls at home between 1997 and 2001, the study said.

Table 2. Nonfatal Unintentional Home Injuries. Average Annual Number, Percentage and Rate (per 100,000 persons), All Causes, U.S., 1997-2001.

Cause of Injury	Number	Percentage	Rate
Fall	5,105,558	41.2	1,884.0
Struck By/Against	1,467,203	11.8	541.4
Cut/Pierce	1,398,434	11.3	515.7
Overexertion	1,262,619	10.2	446.2
Poisoning	726,296	5.9	263.9
Natural/Environment	580,343	4.7	213.4
Miscellaneous	560,903	4.5	206.0
Unspecified	464,922	3.8	171.9
Fire/Burn	261,326	2.1	96.4
Pedal Cyclist, Other	169,530	1.4	62.5
Transport, Other	139,856	1.1	51.4
Machinery	122,373	1.0	45.2
Motor Vehicle	81,902	0.7	30.3
Pedestrian, Other	21,974	0.2	8.2
Choking/Suffocation	18,101	0.1	6.7
Firearm	12,144	0.1	4.5
Near Drowning/Submersion	2,380	>0.1	0.9
TOTAL	12,395,864	100.0	4,410.0

Data Source: National Health Interview Survey, 1997-2001.

When is the last time you did a story about "falling." Just consider the injuries falling causes to senior citizens who break hips.

• Falls were the leading cause of unintentional injury in the home environment, resulting in an average of 5,961 deaths each year between 1992 and 1999.
• Falls accounted for one-third of all unintentional home injury deaths (1992–1999), more than 40 percent of nonfatal unintentional injuries (1997–2001), and more than one-third of all nonfatal home injuries resulting in emergency department care (1993–2000).
• The rates and national estimates of the number of fall deaths were substantially higher among those at least 70 years of age, compared to all other age groups.
• The circumstances surrounding the majority of fall deaths (63 percent) were unknown.
• Seventeen percent of fall deaths were associated with stairs or steps.

How can homes be engineered or remodeled to minimize falls or injuries from falls?

• One-third of all households with stairs did not have banisters or handrails on at least one set of stairs. Homes with older persons were more likely to have banisters or handrails than those where young children lived or visited.
• Forty-eight percent of households had windows at a second-floor level or above, yet of those, only one-fourth reported that they had window locks or safety guards to prevent children from falling out.
• Sixty-three percent of U.S. households used bathtub mats or non-skid strips to help reduce bath tub falls. (So four out of 10 did not.) Only 19 percent of homes had grab bars to supplement their non-skid tub surfaces.

The study included some other interesting tidbits that might be worth exploring.

Choking is the fourth leading cause of deaths at home. And look at this:

One-third of the home fatalities due to choking or suffocation were associated with food, while 16 percent were the result of suffocations in beds or bedding.

Choking on beds or bedding? Have you ever heard of that? I have not.

• For infants, choking and suffocation was the leading cause of home injury fatality.
• At least one-third of the unintentional home drownings occurred in bathtubs.
• Between 1992 and 1999, New Mexico had the highest annual average rate of unintentional home injury deaths (13.03 per 100,000 persons), while Massachusetts had the lowest annual average rate (3.33 per 100,000 persons) Following New Mexico, Mississippi and Arizona had the second and third highest rates, exceeding the national average by 38 percent and 33 percent, respectively. Following Massachusetts, Utah and Maryland had the lowest rates, with annual average rates of 42 percent and 36 percent lower than the national average, respectively.

(See state-by-state statistics by clicking here.)

• In those homes where children (younger than six) lived or visited at least once a year, 33 percent of respondents reported keeping medicines in an easily accessible location, such as on a table, shelf, or countertop. Eighty-two percent reported keeping medicines in an unlocked drawer or cabinet and 42 percent in a purse.
• More than two-thirds (69 percent) of the homes with young children reported that household chemicals (e.g., cleaners, bleach, or kerosene) were stored in unlocked places.

Fires and Burns

• Ninety percent of U.S. households are reported to have at least one smoke alarm, and 80 percent had one on each level.
• Only 20 percent of households with at least one smoke alarm tested them at least once every three months.
• Seventy-five percent of respondents did not know the temperature of the setting on their water heaters, and 91 percent were unaware of the temperature of hot water at the tap, thus risking scald injuries.

Firearms

• Among homes with firearms (31 percent), 46 percent reported keeping them in a lockbox or locked cabinet, and 28 percent reported using gun locks.
• Forty-nine percent of gun-owning homes where young children lived or visited reported storing all of their guns in a locked place, and 32 percent reported using gun locks.

Last week I offered some thoughts about how many good people have raised the notion of trying to adopt orphans caused by the tsunami. I cautioned you on the many barriers that will make it slow going. The Asheville Citizen-Times pointed out:

...Most of the countries hit by the tsunamis are Muslim and would never be available for adoption to a non-Muslim family, because it's against Islamic law.

In fact, officials say, if parents hear of a child from one of the ravaged countries available for adoption, it's likely the adoption would not be legal. That's because the child likely was removed from the country illegally.

RainbowKids.com also includes thoughts on the issue.

But there is another story in this.

If a person believes they have the capacity to adopt and care for an international child who has undergone the trauma of their parents' death then certainly that same person would have the capacity necessary to adopt one of the thousands of children in the United States who are languishing in foster care. Click here for information on how to do that in every state.

The tsunami orphans may or may not someday be adoptable. But loving adults who can care for needy children do not have to wait. There are children who need them right now -- right here.

Here is a related Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story that is worth reading. It points out that a 1997 law that was aimed at making it easier to adopt children actually has created more orphans. The law was passed with the hope that it could be easier to move children out of long-term foster care to adoption.

Lots of governors are about to deliver their state of the state speeches soon. Stateline.org has a collection of what they said last year. What did they promise/predict then and how did it work out?

A model of condom handed out by Planned Parenthood performed the worst of all condoms recently tested by Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports.

The magazine reported:

We found no correlation between performance and price, thickness, or the country of manufacture.

But some models were clearly stronger than others. We rated one model that Planned Parenthood distributes at its clinics as poor because its strength was so low compared with the rest.

The report added:

There's no reason to choose spermicidal condoms over other kinds. They have no additional benefit in preventing pregnancy, have a shorter shelf life, and may cause urinary-tract infections in young women. Nonoxynol-9, a widely used spermicide, came under scrutiny in 2001 when a report from the World Health Organization warned that if used frequently, it may cause vaginal irritation and might increase the risk of contracting HIV.

The Consumer Reports website also included this:

The online fact sheet on condoms by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at www.CDC.gov, used to begin with this statement: "Condoms are effective in preventing HIV and other STDs." The fact sheet was removed from the site in 2002 and was later replaced with one that states, "The surest way to avoid transmission of sexually transmitted diseases is to abstain from sexual intercourse ..." or be in a long-term monogamous relationship with someone whom you know is not infected.

The new fact sheet also omits descriptions of the various condom types, information on which lubricants are safe to use with latex, instructions for how to properly use a condom, and references to anal and oral sex, for which public-health groups recommend condoms. A CDC spokesperson said the new fact sheet is more science-based than its predecessor and is meant for health professionals, but critics, including experts on reproductive health, charge that it puts ideology before science and encourages distrust of condoms.

We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.

Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts, and other materials from a variety of websites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed, and a link will be provided, whenever possible.