Remembering Walt and Molly Weber ❤️ 2.10.1995

Posted February 10, 2020

This is Walt and Molly Weber. On this weekend 25 years ago they headed off to a lodge in Mammoth, CA, for a weekend of fun and skiing. They arrived late in the evening and, looking forward to hitting the slopes early the next morning, requested a wake-up call and crawled into bed. Little did they know these would be the last moments their lives would ever be the same.

They were found unresponsive 36 hours later by hotel staff (because they had missed checkout), still in bed. Walt was pronounced dead by emergency responders, and Molly was barely alive. Both had been poisoned by carbon monoxide (CO) leaking undetected from a broken heater in the room. The hotel had no CO detection installed, so there had been no alert for them to evacuate and no alert to the hotel staff there was a life-threatening problem developing their building. Instead, business had carried on as usual as Walt and Molly lay dying, in desperate need of rescue for almost two full days.
Incredibly, Molly survived, but with such severe injury to her brain she was unable to swallow, speak or walk when she woke up from a coma nine days later. It took weeks for her to comprehend that Walt, the love of her life, was dead. Much of the damage to her brain was irreversible, impacting her personality and preventing her ability to ever live independently again.

Walt and Molly’s story is one among many similar “accidents” that continue to happen in U.S. hotels due to lack of proper CO safeguards, including the installation of CO detection systems, emergency procedures and staff training. Deaths and injuries due to CO are 100% preventable. We are working hard to bring public and industry awareness to this issue and the need for immediate change. You can help by sharing this information with your family and friends and encouraging them to carry their own CO alarm when they travel.

Thank you to Molly and her sister, Lyrysa Smith, for sharing Walt and Molly’s story. You can read more here https://www.timesunion.com/…/A-sister-lost-found-5721855.php and in Lyrysa’s book https://www.lyrysasmith.com/a-normal-life/

Utility malfunction causes carbon monoxide scare in Keene, NH

Posted January 15, 2020

“The utility realized it was sending out the wrong mixture of gas to air to appliances such as boilers, clothes dryers, and stoves, with too much natural gas being sent out into the supply line. That type of mix could lead to carbon monoxide leaking into homes and businesses…”  Businesses affected included the Marriott Hotel on Railroad Street.

https://www.unionleader.com/news/safety/utility-malfunction-causes-carbon-monoxide-scare-in-keene/article_f427e91b-f973-5a26-983b-908cecffbf3e.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share&fbclid=IwAR0CiOhgdaS6u9d_b0fElVVxF67gwlQG5RdZUUbMnlvvQ4Pzc-gu7bPHuRA

 

Hotels – A Hidden Source of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Posted January 9, 2020

Forbes –  by Judy Stone, MD

A unique look at what it’s like to be poisoned by carbon monoxide in your hotel room. Thankfully these victims survived, however their experience highlights some of the many unaddressed questions of CO safety in hotels…namely, who is watching out for us when we check in?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/judystone/2020/01/09/hotelsa-hidden-source-of-carbon-monoxide-poisoning/?fbclid=IwAR2IzqlrLxjkXdtB_7l5B3rOiQvjXNoaal9ObXo0aoMUEuG7_D3FFVcjPAg#8141a2258cb8

 

Carbon Monoxide Poisonings in Hotels and Motels: The Problem Silently Continues

Posted September 15, 2019

Just published in Preventive Medicine Reports…The Jenkins Foundation’s spreadsheet of hotel CO incidents helps add to 30 years (1989-2018) of published, publicly accessible data regarding CO poisoning in U.S. hotels. Thanks to leading CO researchers Dr. Neil Hampson, Dr. Lindell Weaver, and Kayla Deru, victims of these incidents now have a collective voice in the effort to bring attention to the to lack of universal requirements for CO detection in hotel buildings.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211335519301469?fbclid=IwAR1zKeLgbwNjYk4ZaVF-pCRYUWHKpppf0o-_QYscWp_b-3mYZwHY3KJlDoM

 

NFPA Handout (with links)

Posted June 18, 2019

Carbon Monoxide Poisonings – Is a Silent Killer Lurking in Hotel Rooms?

NFPA Conference & Expo – June 2019

For more information about the Jenkins Foundation, please visit our website and Facebook page:

https://thejenkinsfoundation.com/

https://www.facebook.com/thejenkinsfoundation/

 

Spreadsheet – U.S. Hotel/Motel Carbon Monoxide Incidents 1967 – to date

https://thejenkinsfoundation.com/hotel-co-incidents/

 

Interactive map of spreadsheet data

https://www.insightrisk.com/resources/carbon-monoxide-hotels/

 

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning at Motels, Hotels, and Resorts (1989 – 2004)

Lindell K. Weaver, MD; Kayla Deru, BA

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17572307

 

Cherry-red skin not a reliable indicator of CO poisoning

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11563729

 https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS014067360579810X.pdf

  

Diffusion of Carbon Monoxide Through Gypsum Wallboard

Neil B. Hampson, MD; Todd G. Courtney, BS; James R. Holm, MD

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/1730499

http://neilhampson.com/carbon-monoxide.html

 

Myth busting in carbon monoxide poisoning

Neil B. Hampson, MD

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26632018

 

For more information on the cases featured in this presentation:

Daryl & Shirley Jenkins/Jeannie & Jeffrey Williams

2013 – Boone, NC

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/special-reports/nc-medical-examiners/jeffrey-williams/article9093218.html

 

Bruce & Joan Plagman/Betty & Mary Bishop

1967 – Boston Heights, OH

https://www.ohio.com/article/20121112/NEWS/311129370

 

Walt & Molly Weber

1995 – Mammoth Lakes, CA

A Normal Life: A Sister’s Odyssey Through Brain Injury by Lyrysa Smith

http://www.lyrysasmith.com/

 

Boughter Family

2006 – Ocean City, MD

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2006-07-11-0607110198-story.html

 

Bryan Douglas-Watts

2017 – Niles, MI

https://abc7chicago.com/news/hotel-co-leak-kills-13-year-old-boy-attending-birthday-party/1832154/

 

David & Patricia Ivie

2017 – Perryton, TX

http://highplainsobserverperryton.com/son-wants-to-bring-more-awareness-to-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-at-hotels-p23044-267.htm

https://www.mankatofreepress.com/news/silent-killer-good-thunder-couple-calls-for-greater-carbon-monoxide/article_722da518-1788-11e8-9a45-ffed270f1628.html

 

Why Are Guests Still Dying from Hotel Gas Leaks?

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article196353719.html

 

 

 

 

6 years later…remembering Daryl and Shirley Jenkins ❤️ 4.16.2013

Posted April 16, 2019

Six years ago today, Daryl and Shirley Jenkins lost their lives to CO poisoning in a hotel room while on vacation in Boone, NC. In memory of them and the thousands of other victims who have been injured and/or died in U.S. hotels of this very preventable cause, we shared a series of four posts on The Jenkins Foundation Facebook page…https://www.facebook.com/thejenkinsfoundation/

Read More >

Hotel Carbon Monoxide Poisoning in Jacksonville, NC

Posted November 3, 2018

Hotel evacuated and 16 guests, including a child, hospitalized due to carbon monoxide poisoning…no information yet on whether hotel had CO alarms…another example of why it’s so important to pack your own alarm when you travel… https://www.wnct.com/news/local-news/jacksonville/16-taken-to-hospital-after-carbon-monoxide-exposure-at-jacksonville-hotel/1569012387

1 dead, at least 11 poisoned by hotel CO leak in Niles, MI

Posted April 1, 2017

“Hotel staff found the children lying unresponsive at an indoor pool deck and the breakfast area adjacent to the pool at 10 a.m. ET after noticing their figures through a window…The Fire Department also said it found one of the children in a first-floor room unconscious and not breathing…One hotel worker, along with two Berrien County officers and two Niles city police officers were also treated for exposure to the poisonous gas.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/1-dead-least-11-poisoned-michigan-hotel-carbon-monoxide-leak-n741586

Plastic used by workers caused CO to build up at Best Western

Posted January 19, 2008

Best Western Allentown Inn & Suites – Allentown, PA

“No one realized the man was suffering from exposure to carbon monoxide — and that the poison gas, notorious for its deadly stealth, was already sickening other guests and workers…Philip D. Prechtel, 63, died in his room…One other guest, two employees, two police officers and three ambulance workers were taken to hospitals.