Stan, Clarence, Barry, and the Health Chatter team chat about the impacts of safety on health.Join the conversation at healthchatterpodcast.comBrought to you in support of Hue-MAN, who is Creating Healthy Communities through Innovative Partnerships.More about their work can be found at http://huemanpartnership.org/
Hello, everybody. Welcome to Health Chatter. Today's show is on health and safety. And boy, I'll tell you, after reading our background research, there are a lot of safety issues that, you know, frankly, I had forgotten about. But we'll dive into them today with our crew. We have a wonderful background crew that helps us with all of our shows, Maddy Levine-Wolf, Aaron Collins,
Deandra Howard, Matthew Campbell, and Sheridan Nygaard all do wonderful research. They do our recordings as well and also get those shows out to you, the listening audience. So thank you to you guys. It's really a pleasure working with you. In addition, Dr. Barry Baines is with us today. He's our medical advisor that provides some medical insight and perspective.
So thanks, Barry, for being on the show today. And of course, there's Clarence. Clarence Jones and I co-host the show together. And we're finding that a lot of the shows are very, very interesting. And we are learning a lot together. So Clarence, as always, thank you. Human Partnerships. is our sponsor for these shows. Great community health organization.
Check them out at humanpartnership.org and check us out, Health Chatter out at healthchatterpodcast.com. All the research, And all the questions that you might have or reviews are all on our website. And you can also read up about all of us who do the show. So thanks again to everybody. So health and safety.
You know, I read through our background research here, and one of the key things around health and safety centers around OSHA, O-S-H-A-A, which stands for the Occupational Safety Health Administration, which, frankly... didn't start that long ago. It was like in 1970 that it really started. And it was really focused on safety in the workplace.
And if you just kind of broaden your perspective about work in general and think about where all the people in the United States work, all these different different places, there are safety concerns that, that need to be addressed and hopefully, um, in a way that can prevent harm. And so for instance, in, um, historically, you know, we were dealing with mines and mind, mind safety, M I N E safety.
There was, um, you know, things around equipment. There was also farming where we had a lot of farming accidents and alike. And as we get more sophisticated with our technology, there are aspects of work that we really have to address from a safety perspective. So thoughts on that, Barry?
Well, basically that's one of the areas of health and safety where there is a structure in place. There are departments within governmental perspectives that really address those kinds of things. And certainly things like mine, when I kind of think of the biggies, certainly mine safety, construction, Safety is another one.
And when you look at where a lot of the accidents and mortality comes from, it's in these, you know, fairly dangerous occupations. And, you know, from a health and safety perspective, though, you do have government regulation, you have government intervention, and that Obviously, you can't get away from the political aspects of that, which I'm not going to delve into.
And so at the very least, for health and safety concerns within the workplace, there is a process and there is a navigational path. And the responsibility gets to be a little bit different. than when we get into some of the more personal health and safety issues that we'll get into where the onus really falls on individuals and families and things like that.
The other thing I just wanna say, stepping out to the side here just for a second, is that the research that was done for this is amazing. I mean, the facts that are there in the areas for exploration, Um, I'm so glad that this is going to be a resource for people who listen to the podcast, um, because it could really could make your head spin on the one hand.
On the other hand, these are all things, whether it be in minds in, you know, in occupational issues or at home or in the office. Um, there are things that we can do, uh, to mitigate, uh, against, uh, unexpected bad things happening to people.
Yeah, you know, our research, and we'll talk about hopefully at least a little bit on all of these areas, occupational, home safety, auto and road safety, and firearm safety. I mean, that's just perhaps just touching the surface. Clarence, your thoughts just to get us going here.
You know, it's kind of interesting. 1970 was really when the first time I became aware of OSHA. And I remember during that time, there was a lot of, as you just said, there's a lot of concern about coal mines. And I remember, what's that, black lung or something, coal? Yeah. I remember a lot of conversations about that. But I also remember asbestos.
You know, asbestos came up, you know, people were, you know, using that product, but they did not realize how much it was scarring their lungs. And so a lot of times when there was construction or deconstruction of a building, there was always some concern about, you know, why are you wearing your mask and things like that.
And truth of the matter is that those were not industries that I was involved in, but there was such a dramatic impact in terms of the, the work that was being done and the reduction of, of health concerns that, you know, like I said, I was not involved in it, like, you know, really intensive, but I understood the importance of having a governmental agency like this.
Absolutely. And, and You almost have to be totally out of it not to see potential dangers that are around you. In the Twin City metropolitan area, those of us who live here, if you go from A to B in your car, navigating road construction, and when you just pass by what's going on,
You can't help but think, oh, my God, these people that are working on these road construction improvements, it can be really, really dangerous. And so, you know, you have to reduce your speed and not everybody does it, at least appropriately. So, you know, when we're dealing nationally with infrastructure issues,
improvements, whether it be roads, bridges, et cetera, we are faced with potential dangerous situations, safety issues, and certainly I'm sure that OSHA is on top of it.
Stan, let me say this. You know, as we're talking about this, this is also a public health issue. You know, I think that the work that's being done here also impacts our public health. And so sometimes we don't see the interconnection, you know, or we think it's not connected. But this impacts our public health as well.
Yeah. So, you know, just absolutely. So to give you an idea, if we're looking at it from an occupational standpoint, OSHA is the big four that they deal with are falls. So you can imagine, just, just think about this. People are building these skyscrapers, you know, and they're, and they're, you know, the top floor is in heaven.
And can you imagine, you know, any falls from one floor to the next or major or major falls? So that's, that's, an important area. Struck by an object is another one. Again, scaffolding, et cetera, can be quite dangerous. Electrocutions is the third area. And then one that I thought was interesting is caught in or caught between. Employees caught in or between machines, devices, tools,
these types of things where they get actually caught in them and dragged into these machines and get seriously injured or even killed. Those are the four major areas that OSHA continues to deal with. And I'm sure it's becoming more and more complicated with our level of sophistication of the things that we do. Yeah, go ahead, Barry.
Yeah, and I also, I just want to asterisk the falls piece Because certainly within the occupational sphere, I think our research showed over 36% of all deaths recur from falls. And the idea of falls certainly is very, very high for a cause of death for elderly. It's also very common. And also for kids, which we can get into, kids can't fly.
initiative with kids falling out of windows from, you know, in tenement, in tenement buildings. So something like falls is one of those things that really go across the whole spectrum, I think, of all the air, you know, just about all the areas that we're going to be covering. So I just wanted to, you know, point that out. That's a good connection.
You know, when you think about it, you know, falls in the home and what, what, do we do to prevent them? And when do we think about preventing them? In other words, rugs that you have on the floors around your home, at what point do you become cognizant of the danger that rugs can pose? Or grab bars in showers. At what point do you put them in?
I will answer that one if I can remember it. But I want to go back to the previous point. I did not think about it until now. I, in my own personal life, have known people who have lost their fingers. I've known young people that have lost their lives by falling out of off banisters, you know, you sit on the third floor. And so I think that and all of these things happened a long time ago.
But I think we don't realize the importance of of what safety is and having, again, this government government. government agency in place, how it is meant. But if you're older, more seasoned, you probably know somebody that has probably been caught in some of those things. But in terms of safety, when do we start thinking about it? Well, I'm thinking about it right now because I'm more seasoned.
And so for me, there are certain places where there are safety things, safety rules in place because there is a certain season population that might be utilizing the organization. So OSHA has some standards that are designed to keep us safe as well. So that's what I think about. You know, the safety when we take a look at rugs and those kinds of things.
That's when I and I didn't I didn't think about OSHA at that point, but that's where we're at. Yeah.
You know, and also like in the workplace, there's there's really subtle types of things that I remember at the at the Department of Health. We had employees that did ergonomic assessments. Or when you're working. So when you're seated at a desk, for instance, is the desk at the right height? Is your computer screen placed properly?
Those types of subtle things can really have an impact on a person's health. And then also, the work environment, the work that's trying to be done, if indeed it's compromised by people being unhealthy, there are major economic effects as well.
So I think that Stan, if I could also just weigh in a little bit, kind of building on what you said, the workplace has changed a lot over the years. And we tend to focus when we think of work safety about all the disastrous things that can happen, you know, falling off buildings, getting electrocuted, you know, being struck by a fallen hammer, you know, things like that.
But I think the ergonomic thing, we're seeing this more and more, you know, not only from the standpoint people are using computers more. So we have a lot of issues with, you know, certainly, you know, carpal tunnel and, things from keyboarding. But the other thing is just the amount of sitting that people do.
I don't have the statistics offhand, but I think they equate the amount of sitting that people do in a day to the equivalent of smoking a pack of cigarettes per day as mortality. If you don't get up every hour and walk around, they're just sitting and sitting
It really is a health issue and work today is sitting in front of a computer and, you know, you get hand strain and neck strain, stuff like that. But you also wind up sitting way too, you know, way too much. And those have impacts. Those are more of like what I would call the micro health issues, even though for an individual, it's very, can be very significant.
But it's, you know, you don't think of it quite in the same terms. of people falling off buildings and dying as a result of that. Exactly.
And, you know, it's interesting, too, when you, you know, the things that have come to our attention, like if you sit at a desk and you're staring at a screen, what implications does it have for your vision? what implications does it have for your, your, your body, whether it be, you know, things like carpal tunnel syndrome for, you know, your wrists or, or what have you.
These are subtle things, but safety, none, nonetheless. All right, let's move into home safety. This is kind of an interesting one. I think there's, I can really state that I remember growing up as a kid and our doors were unlocked. My friends and I were running in and out of the houses like it was not a problem. And so now when we talk about that, we're really talking about a different level of
safety. Yeah. So Clarence, you know, what's your thought on this? I mean, it's like, you know, we've really kind of got to this point where it's kind of like, you know, with burglar alarms and, you know, deadbolt locks and just that aspect of safety. What's your sense?
You know, I agree with you, Stan. I remember growing up, too. You know, sometimes you didn't lock your door at night. I mean, you're in a neighborhood, you got new people and those kinds of things. But our world has changed. And as a result of that, we've had to make some adjustments, too, for our own personal safety. And again, I think that there is a...
there's an importance in that, you know, especially when you are, when you get older, you have, you know, you're protecting your family, you're protecting the property, those kinds of things. And so, having How have you got to be safe? I think without overdoing it is important. And I do think that because of the data that we've been collecting, we have a much better idea about how to be safe.
And there are just some things that you just got to do. I mean, we can no longer drag race down the street. There's just laws. And so it's one of those things where we are adjusting and things keep adjusting. But I think safety is a primary concern for me. And so I'm going to be interested in understanding what can make me safer as a person, as a family member, and as a community member.
And there's also a cost involved with all this. Everybody can afford security systems in their homes or double-bolted locks, just as one side of the home safety issue.
And then...
Besides that, even if you do have those in place, then the technology comes into play. It's like, who understands the importance of the home safety burglar alarms, for instance? And then how is it that you monitor it through an app on your phone, where some people are just illiterate when it comes to dealing with that type of thing? And then, you know, there are people that are living alone.
and what implications that has for their safety as well.
But I think technology, because of the world in which we live, technology has developed to try to address some of those issues. I know whenever you approach my house, my little ring buzzes me. I don't know where I'm at. It just buzzes me and says, hey, somebody's at your front door. And it's one of those kinds of things that as a result of the condition
around us, it has caused us to become more sensitive. I guess that's the word. When you and I were young and Barry were younger, all of us were younger, we didn't think about that stuff because it wasn't as noticeable and as discussed as much as it is today. But every time you turn on the... Every time you watch news, whatever, there's always some concern about safety.
So you do get kind of sensitized but there are just things that you have to do that we didn't used to have to do as much.
Correct. Or frankly, we didn't think about it, I guess. It's brought to our attention and that's good too. But there are other things in homes that are important, like fire detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, detectors. To be honest with you, again, when, you know, years ago, these never existed.
And then it becomes important, you know, to keep these detectors that you have installed up to date, you know, changing the batteries and all these types of things. So, again, good, but Another level of safety that obviously was implemented because there were things that happened that we prevented.
Yeah. I was going to ask a question, though. I think that, you know, for those who are less seasoned, and you know who I'm talking to, I'm talking about, how do you feel about all these conversations around safety? I mean, I know that that's a different kind of world. for most of you. But what are your thoughts about this issue around safety and health? Health and safety.
I can pop in quick and then Maddie, if you want to pop in too. I did the research for this episode, so I definitely have a lot more understanding about safety than I did previously. I think as a society in the U.S.,
compared to other places we are um not as risk averse as maybe other countries um other places that pay that have public health care um it is of their financial interest to make sure that you're safe and healthy um so they don't want to pay for you to have an accident later down the road so i think us all being responsible for our own health insurance pushes the onus onto individuals in the US.
And that's something that we do with a lot of things is our individualistic society in general. It always falls on the individual. And I also think that safety, it really depends upon the family, the person, the household that you're talking about. Everybody has different jobs, different natures of jobs.
Making a home safe for a 90-year-old is going to be different than making a home safe for a three-year-old. And so it really depends on what age group we're talking about and even like cultural things really play into this too. So I think, I think it really depends on where you are in the world, who you are and what you want to keep safe.
Yeah. You know, and, and also there are cultural things, for instance, you know, if you go to Israel and I have, you know, I have relatives in, in Israel and, Each one of their places that they live in has what they call a safe room. So think about, you know, all the, you know, war that's going on there now and previously.
They have an actual safe room that's really highly protected from invasions, etc. So again, safety, but due to circumstantial issues that I think we have to take into consideration as well. Sheridan, you brought up the issue, or not the issue, but I guess the reason to be concerned if you have younger people in a home versus elderly. Okay, so for instance, again, I don't remember, maybe,
Clarence, maybe you do, but I don't remember, certainly when I was growing up, if we would put protectors in an electrical outlet.
I didn't. I don't think I did. I don't think I was wise enough. I think I never stuck a fork in anything either. It was just something that people just say, don't do this. I think because of the
you know, the, the fear of not having your child hurt for something that you could do so simply just the risk of it, or, you know, you had an inquisitive child, you know, you know, you want to make sure that you had as much protection as you could.
So I remember that, but I do, but I do know now that, that, that parents are super sensitive, you know, around their children, making sure that they, you know, are protected, you know,
Yeah, and you know, it's like, so for instance, in my generation, we didn't have, I don't think we even had them, these little electrical protectors where you put them in electrical outlets. But then, you know, when my wife and I had children, yes, we did. And going forward, you know, grandchildren. Yes, they have them. And so it's kind of like almost like a generational shift in safety.
Yeah, Barry. Yeah, well, I think one of the things that's happened over time, and this does get into the health care system, as it were, and why it really is important for these, you know, when people have their checkups for kids,
In particular, I mean, one of the things that I used to do when I was in a more active full range family medicine practice, one of the most important things that we did was having the conversation with parents about the list of safety things to do. And, you know, quite honestly, we didn't, you know, it's like what you don't, you know, you don't know what you don't know. Yeah.
And and that's actually that, you know, who knew about, you know, Clarence or me sticking a fork into an outlet? You know, the kids are curious. OK. And so it really there's a lot of weight on educating the public about this, whether it be, you know, through nurses. Physicians, when you're seeing patients to make sure that safety is
you know, is put on the table and, you know, as well to really have that conversation and also having some excellent handouts that fortunately now are made up in different languages for, you know, for people whose, you know, English might not be their primary language. And many of these things are relatively easy to mitigate if you know what they are. But if you don't know, then that's a problem.
And, you know, again, in my practice over the years, you do wind up with seeing some of these, you know, avoidable tragedies, you know, that have happened. And so I think trying to be proactive, again, putting on my public health hat, Um, you know, this is something that's, that's very important to, to address.
Uh, of course you can't get away from the impact of, you know, substandard housing and issues that make it, you know, even more dangerous, like, like in the home and things. So it's not something that's necessarily in isolation, but it is a piece of that mosaic. It's a piece of that puzzle. And it's something that I think needs to be, uh, needs to be addressed.
You know, it's it's it's interesting, too. It's like and Barry, I'm sure you're you're you're aware of this. It's like when you like like when I go in for like a physical, you know, my physician will ask me or even, you know, one of the nurses, do you feel safe at home? And, you know, in that sense, the way that question is asked, you know, it's the word safe you have to almost put in quotations.
Well, what do you mean? Do you have, you know, do I feel safe because, you know, I'm not in, there's no abuse going on in the house? Or do I feel safe because there's grab bars in the showers? Or do I feel safe because there's no lead-based paint in the house? Do I feel safe, you know, all these things that, reflect on the word safe.
But yet, it's important for all of us to keep them in mind, for sure. So I, some things that you don't necessarily think of, but it's important. Like, you know, when when you when you get like plastic bags, you put your fruit in, you know, at the grocery store in a plastic bags. There's always, you always see these little subtle warnings, you know, keep these plastic bags away from children, okay?
Or small objects, keep them away from children. It can be a potential choking hazard. These types of things, even just these statements,
kind of raise our level of consciousness about safety overall you know um you know barry you you mentioned here about you know firearm safety and car safety so how let's start with firearm safety because that that seems to be more at least at this stage connected with with the home what's your thoughts on that one yeah well you know basically we uh you know to not get into uh
Second Amendment rights and the political part of it. But the reality is, is that we have an epidemic of lots of people owning guns just in general. And one of the kids, the leading cause of death in kids, at least, is from firearms. And and there are things that really can be done to mitigate that quite a bit.
I'm not talking about gun violence in the streets where they're relatively random acts, but in the home, there are so many gun accidents that happen as a result of kids getting a hold of guns that are loaded. And these generally tend to be pretty accidental. And again, it's making a plea again for using gun locks
So they can't be fired, not having ammunition, you know, not having bullets in the gun, having it in a separate place and having your gun locked up somewhere. Of course, you know, this gets away from, you know, why people have guns. A lot of times they say, well, I have a gun to protect myself. And, you know, I can't protect myself if my gun is locked or if it's, you know, somewhere else.
But the reality is kids are very curious and they get into that and you wind up with a tragedy as a result of that. And I know that there have been a lot of efforts to make sure that firearms are safely locked up and certainly for sportsmen and hunters, et cetera. They're, generally speaking, I think have a lot more and take a lot more care
of equipment to keep, you know, their guns in a separate place and keep it locked up. But it's hard to imagine that firearm deaths are the leading cause of death in kids, young people. You know, I always, you know, thought it was cars, you know, which we also, you know, get into. And the basic rules of gun safety as detailed in our
excellent research is it's not complicated things you know that you that you need to do to kind of keep your family safe just internally within within your house um and and those are things that uh just you know really i think should be you know should be highlighted because kids kids can't distinguish the difference between real guns and play guns yeah yeah yeah yeah
I really like that. I really like what you're saying, Barry, because I was thinking about for me, you know, you have stories of kids as early as 12 years old shooting their brother or, you know, and even younger shooting another relative, you know, because, you know, we as adults were not conscientious of the fact that that could happen.
And we're thinking about our safety or our perceived safety. And we don't realize that we are also responsible to also sometimes have to think for our kids. Because what they see as funny and games and things like that and TV could wind up creating a family tragedy that you'll be regretting for the rest of your life.
You know, I grew up with squirt guns, water squirt guns. And there was a morph, I guess, in thinking that... And by the way, we never thought anything about it. We thought it was just fun. But... Going forward, there was like a change of attitude where in some families, they don't allow any kind of toy guns at all. And so it's like, you know,
thinking has kind of gone forward in line with what's going on in the true dangerous aspects of firearm safety.
Yeah, it's funny you mentioned that, Stan, because my parents, when we were younger, we weren't allowed to have like any violent video games. You know, those like the little toy, those little toy green soldiers. My parents used to cut the guns off of those like little
plastic toys um which was like great in the house but you know then when my brother like went to his friend's houses he would still play like call of duty and everything so i think it's also hard because you know you can maintain those standards like within the home but then what happens when the kids go outside of the home and then are exposed to those things but that's like
something I'm constantly thinking about is like within my household, there was definitely a culture of like severe anti-violence, anti-gun, like no Nerf guns, no water guns. It was just, I think about that all the time.
Right. And then, you know, then it always brings up the, you know, the point of what's overkill, you know, no pun intended there, but you know what I mean? What's overkill? It's like, okay, should a kid not be able to play with a Nerf gun under proper supervision. Okay, so those are where the kind of the angst come into play. But there are certainly things that have changed.
over the years as, as it relates to safety and its relationship to firearm safety. So let's talk about other things like, you know, like grab bars. Like I'll, I'll, I'll be the first to admit in my home, we don't have grab bars in the, in our, in our showers. Okay. And it's like, wow. You know, it's like I go in and I take a shower. It's kind of like, OK, I'm OK.
You know, it's not that I don't even think about it, but I should. I really should. And, you know, and at what point do you do something? Well, do you wait until, you know, God forbid somebody falls or has an accident or whatever, and then you do it? The answer is no, you shouldn't do that. You should be more proactive. So that's a message to everybody. Be more proactive.
And I think part of it is, you know, is, is understanding the environment, right? You're in a shower. Oftentimes bathtubs can be even worse versus a standup shower. But if you take a shower and you know, you have the bathtub. So, you know, just think about it. Soap plus water. Slippery. Exactly. Slippery. I don't know any, any bathtubs or wall pots in the bathroom that are soft. It really is a,
you know, almost like an accident waiting to happen. But that's why even without grab bars, at least maybe have one of those suction mats or something that provide, you know, a little bit more stability when you're, you know, when you're standing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's talk about car safety. All right. So again, you know, remember the day when there were no seatbelts in cars. Okay. There are no childish strength. There are, there were no sophisticated safety components in cars. Okay. So I'm going to put a plug in right now. So I, I got about six months ago, I took the senior driver's ed class. Okay.
And yes, you know, my first thought is, Oh God, you know, it's like, What don't I know already? Well, it's really interesting because they go over all these new safety features on cars that you really should take advantage of. in order for you to be safer when you are driving.
And so I recommend to anybody who's at that age to go ahead, take these courses, because it'll be kind of an aha moment for you on things that'll help for you to be safer when you drive. Also seat belts, it took, oh my goodness. First of all, it took us, a long time to get seatbelts legislated. And what came before seatbelts was child restraint seats.
And then it led into safety, you know, seatbelt laws around the country. So anyway, all right, thoughts on all of that, car safety.
I'd like to weigh in quickly on that, only because I know that when I started to drive, Actually, my dad had a 1963 car, which they didn't have seatbelts yet. But in 1963, the government mandated that you had to have the mounts in the car for a seatbelt. You didn't have to have a seat, but they had the mounts.
And when I started to drive in 66, one of the first things I did, my dad kind of looked at me. I said, we got mounts. Let's buy some seatbelts. Right. I was ahead of the, you know, ahead of the curve there. I think, you know, with seatbelts in particular, um, the seatbelts that are not used, uh, it's like, you don't, you don't have them now.
Uh, fortunately as you go flying at 40 miles an hour, uh, you know, into your, uh, steering wheel, which, uh, uh, it used to serve as a spear, uh, the way they weren't collapsible or putting your head through the windshield. But what's very interesting is how other countries have really ramped up their seatbelt use.
And one of them is actually providing, in particular, Great Britain and Australia, that actually in their public service announcements and trying to get people to wear seatbelts, use rather graphic advertisements that actually show what happened to people who didn't wear their seatbelts. It's quite gruesome if you have seen those. And it's real. I mean, this is what happens.
And most people don't have a clue of what these things are about. Oh, wear a seatbelt. Oh, what is it like? And one of the things that's interesting is that in the United States, they tend to downplay what actually happens to people in those situations. And that actually runs over also to firearms.
That, you know, other than the tragedies of firearms and, you know, say, oh, you know, you're in my thoughts and prayers now. Maybe, you know, sort of being more realistic about what happens when things go awry and might get people to think twice about it. I know that the seatbelt usage in other countries that have used this method has really made a difference where people think twice.
The flip side of that is that cars are getting safer and safer, certainly with airbags. But again, you need to be wearing your seatbelt to do that. People come out of crashes that you know, not even that many years ago, you'd be dead. I mean, or if you survived, you'd, you know, go on again into quality of life things. But if you survived, you're so injured that it's just a long road back.
Let me put it that way. So you really do need to wear your seatbelt to stay safe. And that certainly carries over again to the car seat use and having kids in the backseat until they're actually a certain size or shape to be able to sit in front. That's my little mini sermon there on car safety and stuff. And Stan, I took that course, I did a re-up on that senior citizens driving course.
And so- You know about it. It's always very revealing and very, very interesting. And so you have some thoughts.
Yeah, I definitely agree with you, Barry. The cars themselves, it's really impressive how much the lengths to which they are going for safety now. And it probably does make sense to have a course to even learn about all of these new features. But the roads themselves, not the cars. It's in the research if somebody has it pulled up.
But I think since like 2020, 2021, obviously people were not on the road as much in 2020, but following the pandemic, it actually, the roads have gotten more dangerous in terms of people speeding, not following proper normal safety protocols, like using your blinker. And I don't currently drive right now. I don't have a car. I do drive for work university vehicles. And it,
Being a pedestrian, I feel exposed in a lot of ways. I've been hit by a car twice this year alone. And that's just in intersections where people should be stopping and looking, but they're not. I have the right of way and they still give me love taps. I also bike a lot and I've been hit by a car biking too.
And so me as somebody that's making the decision to travel in a more eco-friendly way that is better for my health and my community's health, I'm actually just risking my life in a lot of ways.
And we need to have better systems in place so that people can travel whatever way makes sense to them safely, whether that be public transit, making public transit more safe, even pedestrians, bikers, all of the above, cars, all of it.
So, you know, it's interesting. You bring up bicycles. You know, again, you know, years ago, the concept of a bicycle helmet, we didn't do it. But now it's important. Or how about this one? When you go into an airplane, you are required to buckle up.
Okay, everybody's got to actually buckle up, even though control of the situation is totally out of your control, but you are required by law to buckle up. So bikes, airplanes, you know, we see it everywhere. So, you know, my closing comment for me, and I'll go around the horn here, but my is be smart as it relates to safety.
Be smart, no matter what environment you're in, whether it's in your work environment, your home environment, or your environment in general. Be smart and start thinking about being proactive on what things you should be doing safety-wise that perhaps you don't have in place. Start thinking about those. Clarence, what's your closing thoughts?
I don't think I could have done it any better, Stan. I think that you hit the... The nail on the head. No, the head of the nail. Anyway, you know what I mean. Yeah. I think your comments were great. But, you know, I do think, you know, getting back to the bicycle, I mean, now we have bicycle lanes. Yeah. Which is a major, major difference in our lives. So, yeah. I think this is a great topic.
And thank you, everybody, for the comments. Barry, last thoughts.
Again, I just echo, Stan, what you said. And to build on that, people should understand that there are so many things that you could do. You can't spend the rest of your life just making your home safe. I mean, from a realistic perspective. But number one is understand what the biggest risks are and do something. You know, take some action. If you can't do it all, that's okay, but get a start.
And also there are resources within the community, I believe, for getting some of the safety measures, certainly in home for kids. You know, parents can get free car seats for their kids. Correct.
As one example, I think there's a lot of community resources getting the plugs for your outlets, you know, the safety plugs on that, so that there are resources, and I'm assuming that we might have some linkages in our on the website that might help people to get that, or to ask their health provider or within their community what resources are available.
Because in this case, really, an ounce of prevention is truly worth a pound of cure when it comes to safety. Absolutely.
Maddie, last thoughts.
Yeah, I would say, well, one thing that Barry just said kind of made me think of our fake news episode from a few weeks ago is finding a balance between what kind of safety measures you can take that are within your control with kind of just like the crippling anxiety of knowing that you can't
24-7 just be preoccupied with all of the safety things that you can't control, which is kind of what we said about like, you know, in our fake news episode, like finding a balance between engaging with fake news and then also living your life and not being crippled by the anxiety. So that was something that
Barry just said, which resonated with me, in that you can be concerned about your safety and you should take all the measures you can to be as safe as you can in all of your surroundings. But, you know, you're going to cripple yourself if that's all you're thinking about 24-7.
And then the other thing I just wanted to add is to encourage people to surround yourself with friends and family members and communities that also value their own safety and your safety. Because I think, you know, you can't take your safety for granted. And, you know, it's important to make sure you're surrounded by people who value that as well.
Good points. Sheridan. Sheridan.
I love that, Maddie. That was so good. I think I echo to surround yourself by people that make you feel safe and agree with you in terms of safety. I think as an individual, you can go through life every day, every setting that you're in, whether you're at work, at home, on the road.
and be mindful and have awareness it's really easy to accidentally shut our brains off and go through life on autopilot but that's when mistakes are made so really being mindful about everything that you're doing in terms of your own safety but if you're worried about your safety you can also make other people's lives safer by being a safer driver by following proper protocols in apartments and housing and
Making sure your family is safe will also keep you safe in turn. So caring about these things and being mindful is the number one way to go through your life with safety at the forefront of your mind.
Absolutely. Aaron, I see you're on the show. And she's eating a banana. And that's good. You know, that's good for your health. So nice to see you. So, all right. Thank you to everybody. You know, I guess, you know, maybe a final statement here is take it up a notch as far as safety. You know, across the board, be cognizant of it and act on it.
And by just merely doing that, if we all do that, we'll save a lot of injuries and save a lot of deaths. So thank you to all. And in the meantime, everybody keep health chatting away.