Security-Guard’s Death

Prompts Bassett To Give

CO Detectors To Workers

COOPERSTOWN – Having lost one of their own – Wade Bostwick, a well-liked security guard who died Saturday, Nov. 24, a victim of carbon-monoxide poison – the Bassett Hospital community is taking steps to prevent it from happening again.

Working with Kidde, the fire-safety products manufacturer, the healthcare network has arranged to provide carbon-monoxide detectors free to anyone who might need one, Executive Vice President & COO Ronette Wiley announced.

Department heads will be coordinating distribution in the next few weeks.

Since Bostwick’s passing, “we have had a number of patients who have required treatment for this,” said Wiley in a message to employees.  “With our bitter cold and snow, this is the time of the year where there is an increased danger.”

She pointed out carbon monoxide “is an odorless and colorless gas that can build up indoors and poison people and animals who unknowingly breathe it in. This gas comes from fumes produced when fuel is burned in lanterns, grills, fireplaces, gas ranges, and furnaces.”

It causes thousands of unintended hospitalizations and hundreds of death annual, she said.