Red Cross, Local Fire Departments Team Up in 4 CT Cities for Free Smoke Alarms, Education

The American Red Cross in Connecticut is partnering with four communities across the state for the first-ever Red Cross Install-A-Thon, part of the Red Cross Home Fire Campaign to reduce the number of home fire deaths and injuries. During the week-long event, scheduled for four communities in Connecticut and one in Rhode Island in March, Red Cross workers will be joined by the members of the local Fire Department and community volunteers to visit homes throughout the city. They will share fire safety and preparedness information and install free smoke alarms in homes as requested. Among the program goals is to install 1,200 free smoke alarms in Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Participating cities in the Install-A-Thon include Torrington on March 6: Norwalk on March 7; New Britain on March 8 and New London on March 10. Volunteers will help families understand the importance of fire safety and help them develop personalized family escape plans to use in case a fire breaks out in their home.  A similar effort took place in New Haven in January.

“Home fires are the biggest disaster threat faced in the U.S.,” said Mario Bruno, CEO, American Red Cross Connecticut and Rhode Island Region. “Our goal is to reach as many homes as we can with this program to help ensure people know what to do and are prepared in the event they experience a home fire. We know that for every 1,000 smoke alarms the Red Cross installs, one life is saved. Our goal is to save at least one life as a result of our Install-A-Thon.”

Sixty percent of house fire deaths occur in homes with no working smoke alarms, officials indicated. This campaign is in direct response to that threat. The Red Cross is committing to install 2.5 million free smoke alarms in neighborhoods at high risk for fires, and to educate those residents about fire prevention and preparedness.

As of August 2016, the Red Cross and partners have saved at least 100 lives as part of this campaign, according to officials. Since the program began, the Connecticut and Rhode Island Region of the Red Cross has installed more than 10,000 smoke alarms between the two states.

Individuals interested in having representatives visit their homes to have free smoke alarms  should make an appointment via the websites www.redcross.org/ct/schedule-a-visit or by calling 1-877-287-3327.

In addition to providing free smoke alarm installations and education, the Red Cross is looking for volunteers to help install the alarms, and to educate and provide safety information for this event and in their community throughout the year. Home Fire Campaign Volunteers are trained by the Red Cross, can volunteer during the day or on weekends and can help make a difference in their community. For more information on volunteering visit: https://volunteerconnection.redcross.org/?nd=vms_public_form&form_id=1078.

The Red Cross Install-A-Thon is made possible, in part, due to a grant from the William and Alice Mortensen Foundation. Since October 2014, the Red Cross has worked with fire departments and community groups across the country as part of a multi-year campaign to reduce the number of home fire deaths and injuries by 25 percent. Home fires remain the biggest disaster threat to individuals and families in the United States.

Red Cross officials point out that residents who reside outside the Install-A-Thon cities can always make an appointment for a free Red Cross fire safety visit and free smoke alarms at any time. The program is free and open to anyone in Connecticut.

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches life-saving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization, depending on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission.

Combating Opioid Epidemic in Connecticut Schools - Officials Team Up for Educators Workshop

The Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS), in partnership with the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and victims of drug abuse, will be offering a one-half day workshop for administrators, teachers, and counselors on the devastating opioid epidemic that is growing in severity in Connecticut an across the country. This video-based educational program is designed for high schools and geared specifically for teens and adolescents, officials explain, and will be accompanied by an educator’s discussion guide. The guides will be available for participants to immediately use in a variety of educational settings.

Projections for 2016 by the State Medical Examiner indicate that close to 900 people died of accidental drug overdoses in Connecticut. That is almost three times the number of people who died in car accidents last year, organizers point out. Even more devastating, they note, is the fact that a majority of these deaths are of young people ages 18 to 25, many of whom developed an addiction to opioids after misusing prescription pills while in their teens or early adolescence. Sports injuries, dental pain and other illnesses are common reasons for the original prescription.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioids were involved in 33,091 deaths nationwide in 2015, and opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 1999.Significant increases in drug overdose death rates from 2014 to 2015 were primarily seen in the Northeast and South Census Regions. States with statistically significant increases in drug overdose death rates from 2014 to 2015 included Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Washington, and West Virginia.  In Connecticut, between 2014 and 2015 the rate increased by 25 percent.  

Recognizing that law enforcement is only one facet of the solution, the U.S. Attorney’s Office is fighting this epidemic on several fronts, including criminal prosecution and outreach to schools for prevention, officials said. The office has formed a Heroin Education Action Team (HEAT), which includes parents of local overdose victims, to further assist in this effort.

“Opioid Epidemic in CT – Stemming the Tide” will take place on March 3, 2017, 8:30 to 11:00 a.m., at the CAS-CIAC Conference Center in Cheshire.  Registration deadline is February 24, 2017; the cost is $15.00

CAS officials are also calling for schools to show, “as soon as possible, and no later than the end of the school year,” videos about the crisis.

“Please ensure that every student in your high school sees at least one of the following two films,” the association urges:

• 1) a 15-minute film called The Opioid Crisis Hits Home: Stories from Connecticut that can also be used to educate educators, parents and the general public about the opioid epidemic; and
• 2) the FBI/DEA documentary film Chasing the Dragon: The Life of an Opiate Addict, which is 45-minutes long and accompanied by an educator’s discussion guide geared specifically to teens and adolescents.

Since last September, a number of Assistant U.S. Attorneys have partnered with parents of overdose victims, young recovering addicts, FBI, DEA, and local law enforcement to facilitate Chasing the Dragon presentations at high schools in Milford, New Haven, Danbury, Plymouth, Shelton, East Hartford and New Fairfield.

The films “are provided as a public service for the sole purpose of saving lives,” officials underscore. School officials can schedule an opioid awareness presentation by contacting  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Vanessa Avery or Robert Spector at 203-821-3700.

The Connecticut Association of Schools,  a non-profit, tax-exempt educational organization, has grown to represent well over 800 of Connecticut’s public and parochial schools.

CT’s Cuban-American Population Is Centered in Bridgeport, As Immigration to U.S. From Cuba Grows

The number of Cubans entering the U.S. has picked up dramatically since former President Barack Obama announced a renewal of ties with the island nation in late 2014, a Pew Research Center analysis of government data shows. The U.S. has since opened an embassy in Havana, a move supported by a large majority of Americans, and public support is growing for ending the trade embargo with Cuba, according to Pew surveys. Outside of Florida, the New York metropolitan area – including Connecticut - is home to the most Cuban Americans.  More than 10,600 Cuban-Americans call Connecticut home, according to U.S. Census 2014 data. The city with the largest Cuban population is Bridgeport, with more than 1,000 residents of Cuban heritage, according to published reports.

According to the website ZipAlas, the Connecticut communities with the largest percentage of Cuban residents among local their residents include Bridgeport, Hartford, Stratford, Westport, New Britain, Bolton, Stamford, Weston, New Haven, and West Hartford.

Overall, 56,406 Cubans entered the U.S. via ports of entry in fiscal year 2016, up 31 percent from fiscal 2015 when 43,159 Cubans entered the same way, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection data reported by Pew. Fiscal 2015 saw an even larger surge, as Cuban entries jumped 78 percent over 2014, when 24,278 Cubans entered the U.S.

There are 2 million Hispanics of Cuban ancestry living in the U.S. today, the fourth largest Hispanic origin group behind Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and Salvadorans. But population growth for this group is now being driven by Cuban Americans born in the U.S. The share of foreign born among Cubans in the U.S. declined from 68 percent in 2000 to 57 percent as of 2015, Pew reported. The Cuban population in the United States has steadily grown, accelerating from 737,000 in 1990 to 1,144,000 in 2013, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

According to the 2014 American Community Survey (ACS), 923,111 foreign-born Hispanics of Cuban origin lived in Florida, 47,016 in New Jersey, 30,398 in Texas, 28,436 in California, and 24,898 in New York, the Center for Immigration Studies reported.

The Cuban Lyceum of Bridgeport -- Liceo Cubano de Bridgeport- celebrated its 60^th year in 2014, the Connecticut Post reported.  Founded in 1954 on the East Side of Bridgeport, the organization continues as the longest running Hispanic social club in all of New England, according to local leaders. The Lyceum was officially incorporated on July 21, 1954, created to “promote unity, understanding and friendship among all Cuban and others Spanish-speaking people,” and “provide a welcomed place for newly relocated Cubans in the United States,” to continue the traditions of Cuban culture.

Bridgeport Police Chief A.J. Perez was born in Cuba migrated with his family as a youngster to the United States in 1968, according to published reports.  He joined the Bridgeport Police Department in 1983 and became Chief of Police last year, the first Cuban-American police chief in the state’s history.

Legislatures Consider Changes in Transportation Safety in CT, Nationwide

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), in cooperation with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is tracking legislation on a range of traffic safety subjects that have been introduced in the 50 states and the District of Columbia – and is providing updates on the organization’s website.  The site reflects 14 proposed bills in Connecticut, being considered in the General Assembly session that began last month.   Traffic safety topics being tracked nationwide include: Aggressive Driving, Automated Enforcement/Photo Monitoring, Child Passenger Protection, Distracted Driving, Driver’s Licensing, Impaired Driving, Motorcycle Safety, Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety, School Bus Safety, Seatbelts and Occupant Protection, Senior Drivers Issues, Slow-Medium speed vehicles, Speed Limits, and Teen Driver Issues.

Among the proposals being considered in Connecticut is one that would require three-point seat safety belts for school buses and require passengers of a school bus to wear seat safety belts.  A similar proposal would require three-point seat safety belts for school buses that are model year 2019 or newer.  NCSL reports that 20 state legislatures are considering a variety of school bus safety proposals. 

Three proposals would increase fines for distracted driving offenses, including texting or using a hand-held mobile telephone while driving, and one calls for additional funds to be appropriated to the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection to “combat distracted driving.”  Connecticut is one of 14 states that have seen distracted driving bills suggested. 

Legislative proposals also include one that would mandate the use of helmets by motorcycle operators and passengers, and another that would regulate the operation of high-speed and low-speed electric bicycles in the state. Twenty-six states in addition to Connecticut have motorcycle safely proposals under consideration.

Members of the legislature’s Planning and Development Committee will consider proposals that call for modifications to urban street design guidelines, in order to “improve the safety, economic life and vibrancy of urban streets.”

Among the nation’s states, the largest number of legislative proposals relate to impaired driving, followed by motorcycle safety, pedestrian and bike safety, drivers licensing, drivers licensing, and school bus safety.

Forty-seven states have begun their 2017 legislative sessions.

Economic Insecurity A Key Factor in School Shootings Nationwide, Academic Study Finds

There is a connection between economic insecurity and gun violence in the nation’s schools.  That is the conclusion reached in a “rigorous” Northwestern University study of a quarter-century of data which found that when it becomes more difficult for people coming out of school to find jobs, the rate of gun violence at schools increases. The study, “Economic Insecurity and the Rise in Gun Violence at US Schools,” was published this week in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.  It breaks new ground, researchers explain, replacing a “patchwork of contradictory claims” with a clear finding that “multiple indicators of economic distress significantly correlate with increases in the rate of gun violence” at both K-12 and post-secondary schools.

The interdisciplinary study by data scientists Adam R. Pah and Luís Amaral and sociologist John L. Hagan reveals a persistent connection over time between unemployment and the occurrence of school shootings in the country as a whole, across various regions of the country and within affected cities, including Chicago and New York City, the university reported.

“The link between education and work is central to our expectations about economic opportunity and upward mobility in America,” said Hagan, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Sociology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. “Our study indicates that increases in gun violence in our schools can result from disappointment and despair during periods of increased unemployment, when getting an education does not necessarily lead to finding work.”

The December 2012 school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut is among those routinely cited among a number of mass shootings that have garnered public attention in recent years.  While a number of factors have been said to have contributed to the violence, clear answers have been elusive as to the cause or causes.

The Northwestern researchers used data from 1990 to 2013 on both gun violence in U.S. schools and economic metrics, including unemployment, in an effort to determine factors that may be relevant. They found the rate of gun violence at schools has changed over time. The most recent period studied (2007-2013) has a higher frequency of incidents than the preceding one (1994-2007), contradicting previous work in this area, according to the university.

The researchers focused on all gun violence at schools, not only mass shootings. They used the following criteria for an event to be included in the study: (1) the shooting must involve a firearm being discharged, even if by accident; (2) it must occur on a school campus; and (3) it must involve students or school employees, either as perpetrators, bystanders or victims.  They then evaluated the timing of these events against multiple indicators of economic distress, including unemployment, the foreclosure rate and consumer confidence.

The researchers found that “given the nature of the school-to-work transition, it is predictable that more violence would occur closer to the last link in the chain from education to employment. An implication of our findings is that as economic prospects improve, the frequency of shootings in K12 schools should remain relatively stable, with declines at post-secondary schools.”

The research indicated that gang-related violence and lone mass shooters comprise only small fractions of the gun violence that occurs at U.S. schools. Gang-related violence constitutes 6.6 percent of all incidents.  Among the key findings were that gun violence at schools has not become more deadly over time and that most shootings are targeted, with the shooter intending to harm a specific person.

The report also noted that while Chicago is singled out in the study as one of the six cities with the most incidents from 1990 to 2013, Chicago schools are not any more dangerous than schools in other large cities.

The results suggest that during periods of heightened unemployment, increased gun violence may be a growing risk in American college and university settings, finding that “a breakdown in the school-to-work transition contributes to an increase in gun violence at schools.”

“Once we consider how important schools are to American ideas about economic opportunity and upward mobility, we can better understand why school settings are revealed in our research as focal points of violent responses to increased unemployment,” said Hagan, who also is a research professor at the American Bar Foundation. “Prior research about gun violence in schools has not adequately analyzed these connections.”

The Northwestern study differs from earlier studies on gun violence in U.S. schools by considering accumulated knowledge about the school-to-work transition in American society. In the last 25 years, there have been two elevated periods of gun violence at U.S. schools, the researchers found; 2007-2013 was largely due to events at postsecondary schools while 1992-1994 more often involved events at K-12 schools.

“Our findings highlight the importance of economic opportunity for the next generation and suggest there are proactive actions we could take as a society to help decrease the frequency of gun violence,” concluded Pah, clinical assistant professor of management and organizations at the university's Kellogg School of Management.

CT Council Urges Change in Focus to Combat Human Trafficking in State

Recognizing that the sex industry – especially when it involves underage children – is a form of human trafficking, the Connecticut Trafficking in Persons Council (TIP) is making several legislative recommendations aimed at shifting the onus for the crime of prostitution from the prostitute to “the demand side” – the buyers of sex. On National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, the TIP Council released its Annual Report and recommendations for the state legislature, and launched a new initiative and website, www.enddemandct.org.

“Conversations about sex trafficking almost exclusively disregard the role of the individual buying sex—the ‘john,’” says Jillian Gilchrest, chair of Connecticut’s Trafficking in Persons Council and Director of Health Professional Outreach at the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence. “The sex trafficking of Connecticut’s women, men, and children is driven by demand for the commercial sex acts they perform. Put simply, without ‘buyers’ to purchase sex there would be no sex-for-pay industry. So, we are embarking on an ‘End Demand’ campaign to bring much needed attention to those buying sex who create the demand that fuels sex trafficking.”

The TIP report questions why, since Connecticut enacted the felony crime of patronizing sex from a minor in 2013, there have been no arrests or convictions for the felony. Significantly, DCF has seen an increase in the trafficking of children; currently, there are 456 referrals for children at high risk of trafficking.

The report also calls on Connecticut lawmakers, state agencies, and advocates to work together to better understand the demand side of sex trafficking in order to effectively prevent this crime from happening. This begins, the report explains, with creating awareness, since more often than not, those buying sex are left out of conversations about human trafficking. With the use of social media, traditional media, and advertising, the TIP Council indicated it aims to raise public awareness about the individuals in our state who choose to pay to sexually abuse children and exploited individuals.

The report indicates that law enforcement and State’s prosecutors argue that those buying sex with children and exploited adults can be charged with other crimes, such as sexual assault in the second degree or risk of injury. The Council will be looking into this, the report notes, to better understand if buyers of sex are being arrested, and if not, why.

In addition, the report outlined that with over 100 members, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) Human Anti-trafficking Response Team (HART) comprises multi-department, multiagency partners, various levels of law enforcement, the provider community, faith-based network, among others. In 2015, DCF received 133 referrals of youth who were at risk or confirmed victims of human trafficking. As of September 2016, DCF has received 151 referrals of youth who were at risk or confirmed victims of human trafficking, the report indicated.

Tammy Sneed, Director of Gender Responsive Adolescent Services at Department of Children and Families and co-chair of DCF’s Human Anti-Trafficking Response Team, said: “Reports of children suspected to be victims of domestic minor sex trafficking are increasing every year -- and, in 2016, there were just under 200 such referrals. For every child victim, the number of buyers on a given day in Connecticut is unfathomable. Some children report 10 to 15 buyers per night, which leads us to estimate that a minimum of 2,000 buyers in Connecticut bought sex from children last year.”

In the report, the Council recommends:

• the Connecticut Sentencing Commission, Special Committee on Sex Offender, Subcommittee on Sex Offender Sentencing consider whether to include 53a-192a. Trafficking in persons and 53a-83(c), Patronizing a prostitute when such other person is under the age of 18, to the Registration of Sex Offender statutes;
• further discussion and inquiry on why there have not been any convictions under Sec. 53a-83(c), Patronizing a prostitute under the age of 18, effective 2013;
• further discussion on increasing the penalty for Sec. 53a-83(c), patronizing a prostitute under the age of 18, to align with similar sexual crimes against children; and
• further discussion on revising Sec. 53a-192a, Trafficking in persons, to include recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act and increasing penalties to recognize the severity of the crime.

The Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Council is convened by the Commission on Women, Children and Seniors and chaired by the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence (CCADV). The Council was formerly run by the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women. The council consists of members from a diversity of backgrounds, including representatives from state agencies, the judicial branch, law enforcement, motor transport and community based organizations that work with victims of sexual and domestic violence and immigrants and refugees, and address behavioral health needs and social justice and human rights.

“Demand keeps sexual exploitation and trafficking profitable,” says Beth Hamilton, associate director of the Alliance to End Sexual Violence (formerly CONNSACS). “We’ve started seeing the criminal justice system hold traffickers responsible, but we do not often see the people who purchase sex being held accountable for their role in keeping the industry thriving.  If we want to end commercial sexual exploitation, we need to focus on ending demand and creating survivor-centered services.”

In Connecticut, a person is guilty of trafficking in persons when such person compels or induces another person to engage in sexual contact or provide labor or services by means of force, threat of force, fraud or coercion. Anyone under the age of 18 engaged in commercial sexual exploitation is deemed a victim of domestic minor sex trafficking irrespective of the use of force, threat of force, fraud or coercion.

The report points out that “For many people, sex and labor trafficking bring visions of foreign places and people, but this idea is false. In reality, sex and labor trafficking are happening in the state, to Connecticut residents.”

CT’s Mortality Rate from Drug Poisoning is 11th Highest in US; Was 6th Lowest A Decade Ago

Connecticut’s mortality rate from firearms is less than half the national average, the state’s homicide rate is slightly above half the national average, but the rate of drug poisoning deaths exceeds the national average. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that Connecticut’s mortality rate from drug poisoning was 17.6 per 100,000 population, with 623 deaths in the state in 2014, the 19^th highest rate in the nation.  The U.S. rate that year was 14.7, with 47,055 fatalities.  Last year, Connecticut’s mortality rate from drug poisoning climbed to 22.1, which was the 11^th highest rate in the nation, with 800 deaths. 

The states with the highest drug poisoning mortality rates in the nation in 2015 were West Virginia, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Ohio, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Utah, Tennessee and Connecticut.  The lowest rates were in Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Texas and Iowa.

The CDC reported this month that opioids—prescription and illicit—are the main driver of drug overdose deaths. Opioids were involved in 33,091 deaths in 2015, and opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 1999.

In 2015, according to the CDC, significant increases in drug overdose death rates from 2014 to 2015 were primarily seen in the Northeast and South Census Regions. States with statistically significant increases in drug overdose death rates from 2014 to 2015 included Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Washington, and West Virginia.

The five states with the highest rates of death due to drug overdose were West Virginia (41.5 per 100,000), New Hampshire (34.3 per 100,000), Kentucky (29.9 per 100,000), Ohio (29.9 per 100,000), and Rhode Island (28.2 per 100,000).

The increase in drug overdose deaths in Connecticut from 2014 to 2015 was 25.2 percent, the fourth highest in the nation among states that had a statistically significant increase.  Only Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine had larger increases.

Among the 28 states meeting inclusion criteria for state-level analyses, 16 (57.1%) experienced increases in death rates involving synthetic opioids other than methadone, and 11 (39.3%) experienced increases in heroin death rates from 2014 to 2015, the CDC reported.

The largest absolute rate change in deaths from synthetic opioids other than methadone occurred in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island and West Virginia. The largest percentage increases in rates occurred in New York (135.7%), Connecticut (125.9%) and Illinois (120%).

Connecticut, Massachusetts, Ohio, and West Virginia experienced the largest absolute rate changes in heroin deaths, while the largest percentage increases in rates occurred in South Carolina (57.1%), North Carolina (46.4%), and Tennessee (43.5).

Connecticut announced a detailed opiate response initiative this fall.  The Connecticut Opioid REsponse Initiative (CORE) is a strategic plan from Yale experts in response to the state’s opioid and overdose epidemics. It recommends: 1) expanding access to effective, medication-based treatment for substance use disorders; 2) improving transitions within the treatment domain; 3) increasing the availability of naloxone — the antidote to reverse an opioid overdose — and; 4) decreasing the over-prescribing of opioid at high doses or in combination with sedatives.

The CDC said “there is an urgent need for a multifaceted, collaborative public health and law enforcement approach to the opioid epidemic;” the Drug Enforcement Administration referred to prescription drugs, heroin, and fentanyl as the most significant drug-related threats to the United States, the CDC reported.

Connecticut Opioid REsponse Initiative (CORE) news conference, 10/6/16

https://youtu.be/fqw-AXvsL_8

Traffic Deaths at 4-Year High in Connecticut

The Connecticut Crash Data Repository (CTCDR) reports that the number of traffic deaths in Connecticut through December 22 in 2016 is the highest in the past four years. The CTCDR is a web tool designed to provide access to select crash information collected by state and local police. This data repository enables users to query, analyze and print/export the data for research and informational purposes. The CTCDR is comprised of crash data from two separate sources; the Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT).

The latest data reports a total of 301 traffic deaths in the state this year, compared with 273 through the same date in 2015; 245 in 2014 and 278 in 2013, all through December 22. It is the second consecutive annual increase in the number of traffic fatalities.

The purpose of the CTCDR is to provide members of the traffic-safety community with timely, accurate, complete and uniform crash data. The CTCDR allows for complex queries of both datasets such as, by date, route, route class, collision type, injury severity, etc.

For further analysis, this data can be summarized by user-defined categories to help identify trends or patterns in the crash data. The site is maintained by the University of Connecticut.

Lead Poisoning Is A Problem for Connecticut Children, National Study Reveals

A Reuters news service examination of lead testing results across the country found almost 3,000 areas with poisoning rates far higher than in Flint, Michigan, which was the focus of national attention this year for its dangerously tainted water supply. The review and analysis found at least seven areas in Connecticut, based on zip code geography, where the percentage of children found to have elevated lead levels exceeded – more than doubled – the percentage in Flint.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that nationwide, around 2.5 percent of children ages 0-6 have an elevated lead level, defined as 5 micrograms/deciliter or higher. Among small children tested in Flint, Michigan during the peak of that city’s lead contamination crisis, 5 percent had elevated levels, or double the average.

In many neighborhoods – census tracts or zip code areas – across the country, a far higher rate of children have tested high in recent years.  The zip codes in Connecticut with elevated lead levels in more than 5 percent of children tested include more than a dozen neighborhoods and communities scattered across the state, with the highest levels  in the towns of Canaan and Sharon, and the cities of Bridgeport, New Haven, and Waterbury.

The State Department of Public Health website indicates that “childhood lead poisoning is the most common pediatric public health problem, yet it is entirely preventable. Once a child has been poisoned, the impairment it may cause is irreversible. Lead harms children’s nervous systems and is associated with reduced IQ, behavioral problems, and learning disabilities.”

Since the 1970s, U.S. efforts to eradicate childhood lead poisoning have made what Reuters describes as “remarkable progress,” while pointing out that “the advances have been uneven.”  Legacy lead – in paint, plumbing, yards, well-water or even playgrounds – means that kids in many neighborhoods remain at a disproportionately high risk of poisoning, the news service report explained.

The news service conducted a nationwide analysis of childhood blood lead testing data at the neighborhood level. Census tract or zip code level data reflecting the local prevalence of elevated lead tests was obtained from 21 states, including Connecticut.  The highest prevalence was found in:

Zip Code                              Tested Children /Elevated Results

06031 Canaan                    107 / 15.89%

06608 Bridgeport            8,602 / 13.32%

06511 New Haven            15,731/12.88%

06519 New Haven            8,318 / 11.95%

06607 Bridgeport             4,079/10.9%

06710 Waterbury             6,133/ 10.48%

06069    Sharon                  137 /10.22%

Across the country, Reuters found nearly 3,000 areas with recently recorded lead poisoning rates at least double those in Flint during the peak of that city’s contamination crisis. And more than 1,100 of these communities had a rate of elevated blood tests at least four times higher.

Reuters reports that zip codes have average populations of 7,500. In each area, a relatively small number of children are screened for lead poisoning each year, the report indicated.

The poisoned places stretch from Warren, Pennsylvania, a town on the Allegheny River where 36 percent of children tested had high lead levels, to a zip code on Goat Island, Texas, where a quarter of tests showed poisoning, the Reuters analysis indicated. In some pockets of Baltimore, Cleveland and Philadelphia, where lead poisoning has spanned generations, the rate of elevated tests over the last decade was 40 to 50 percent.

“I hope this data spurs questions from the public to community leaders who can make changes,” said epidemiologist Robert Walker, co-chair of the CDC’s Lead Content Work Group, which analyzes lead poisoning nationwide. “I would think that it would turn some heads.”

The findings, Walker told Reuters, will help inform the public about risks in their own neighborhoods and allow health officials to seek lead abatement grants in the most dangerous spots.

Congress recently directed $170 million in aid to Flint - 10 times the CDC’s budget for assisting states with lead poisoning this year, Reuters reported.

Efforts Forge Awareness From Tragedy, As CT Nonprofit Stresses Fire Safety

Jeff Block founded One Innocent Life, a Connecticut-based nonprofit organization, 18 months ago while battling for a new state law to improve Connecticut fire safety standards. He has been campaigning for fire safety in Connecticut homes since 2012, when his daughter, Eva, of Woodbridge, and two friends, died in a fire in their off-campus housing at Marist College in upstate New York on January 21st.  Approximately 66 percent of students attending college in the U.S. live in off-campus housing, according to the Center for Campus Fire Safety Student Committee.

His efforts led to legislation in Connecticut, but One Innocent Life is continuing to advocate for greater awareness, in Connecticut and beyond, on campuses and in local communities.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated annual average of 3,870 structure fires in dormitories, fraternities, sororities, and barracks between 2009 and 2013.  From 2000 - 2015, 89 fires that killed 126 people have occurred on a college campus, in Greek housing or in off-campus housing within three miles of the campus. Of these, 76 off-campus fires caused 107 deaths, while 7 on-campus building or residence hall fires claimed 9 victims and 6 fires in Greek housing took the lives of 10 people.

Public Act 15-5, approved by the Connecticut legislature in the June 2015 Special Session, took effect on October 1, 2015.  The law requires landlords to include a notice in each dwelling unit's lease disclosing whether the unit has a working fire sprinkler system. If a unit has a working system, the lease must also include a notice indicating the date of its last maintenance and inspection. Both notices must be printed in a uniform font of at least 12-point, boldface type.

Under the state law, a “fire sprinkler system” is a system of piping and appurtenances designed and installed according to generally accepted standards so that heat from a fire automatically causes water to discharge over the area, extinguishing the fire or preventing it from spreading.

There were seven college students in the rental house that night in Poughkeepsie. Four made it out. New Canaan resident Kevin Johnson, a student at Duchess Community College at the time, Kerry Fitzsimmons, a Marist senior from Long Island, and Eva Block, a Marist senior, did not. “One Innocent Life is dedicated to raising awareness about the living conditions of college students, involving fire safety,” the organization’s website explains.

“The annual number of fires in dormitories, fraternities, sororities and barracks reported to U.S. fire departments has been substantially higher in recent years than any time prior to 2000,” the NFPA’s Richard Campbell said in August 2016.

The National Fire Prevention Association suggests that students renting off campus housing – and other renters – ask the following of landlords:

• Does every room have a smoke alarm?
• What is the power supply to the detector (hardwire/battery/both)?
• Who provides the battery replacement?
• Does the off-campus housing have sprinklers and fire extinguishers?
• What is your disciplinary policy toward tenants who cause false alarms or fail to evacuate during an alarm?
• Do the rooms have enough outlets with enough power to feed energy needs?
• Can the exit doors be opened from the inside without a key?
• What fire safety training does your building staff receive?

One Innocent Life's video to extend awareness, made with the help of Wesleyan University, the City of Middletown Professional Firefighters Local 1073, includes more than a dozen volunteers from Connecticut.

https://youtu.be/9tVQGDyzUHQ