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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, February 5, 2015 | 6 Spotlight by Michael Gregory Oakville Beaver Staff "Connected to your Community" Woman's rst-hand experience with `the silent killer' Disoriented, drifting in and out of consciousness and barely able to stand, Karen reached out in the darkness of the hotel room for her ve-year-old daughter and, with every bit of energy, ran towards the door holding tight her unconscious child. Weeks after the Waterdown mother and her daughter , Charlie, suffered carbon monoxide poisoning while at the Staybridge Suites in Oakville, the timeline of events remains unclear , but traumatic memories linger . "I can't stop thinking about this -- I wake up at 2 a.m. and I don't sleep," she said. "I play it over and over and over in my head." Karen, who asked that her last name be withheld for privacy, said she awoke at around 7 a.m. on Jan. 14 to a phone call from hotel staff telling gas was seeping into her second- oor room and she needed to get out. Karen, her husband, their daughter and sixmonth-old chocolate Labrador retriever had recently moved into the hotel on a short-term basis after selling their home. That morning, her husband, whose business is in Burlington, had already left early for work. "The rst thought in my mind constantly was I've got to get my daughter out, I've got to get out of the room," Karen said. "I was trying to get her to get up and she was lolling about on the bed, really groggy and out of it." Oakville Fire Platoon Chief Bill Forbes would con rm a carbon monoxide (CO) leak in the ground oor mechanical room, directly underneath where the family was staying, had caused levels of the colourless, odourless and tasteless gas to reach 900 parts per million. Safe levels for CO readings are closer to 20 ppm or below, Forbes said. Karen describes drifting in and out of consciousness over what she estimates could have been 20 to 30 minutes. "There are things that I don't remember until I saw photos of the space," she said. "I do remember trying to put my daughter's boots on thinking they were mine -- I was that out of it." At one point in the ordeal, she said there was a "moment of clarity" and she realized "we can't get out of this room because of the gas. "I called down to the front desk and said I can't get out of this room, I keep passing out." "Every time I woke up, I thought I've got to get Charlie out of the room. That was the only The rst thought in my mind constantly was, I've got to get my daughter out, I've got to get out of the room. I was trying to get her to get up and she was lolling about on the bed, really groggy and out of it. survivor of carbon monoxide poisoning Karen A carbon monoxide leak in a boiler room caused the Jan. 14 evacuation of the StaybridgeSuites in Oakville. A woman and her daughter were in a room above the leak and were taken to hospital upon evacuation. | Oakville Beaver le photo driving force and I don't know how I did it," she said. "I got her up on her knees and she started dry heaving over and over again and she spit up a lot and then she lolled back onto the bed again." Passing out and coming to once more, the mother had a "moment of strength" as she reached for her daughter. "I grabbed Charlie and I ran as fast as I could to the front door at that point she went fully unconscious on me like a rag doll," she said. As Karen reached the second- oor hallway, a hotel staff member came running and picked up the girl who opened her eyes. Karen said she doesn't remember making her way down to the lobby, but was in a panic as her daughter lay helpless and covered in blankets on a couch. "It wasn't her, it was a very weak version of my daughter," Karen said, describing how Charlie kept trying to assure her she was OK. Halton paramedics transported them to Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital (OTMH), where they were hooked up to oxygen until mid-afternoon. "We're extremely thankful for all the help we got," Karen said, noting a paramedic drove their puppy to a veterinarian to be checked out. The hotel was evacuated for several hours that morning and guests were invited to stay in a temporary shelter space at the Halton Regional Centre just up the road. Apart from the continued sense of anxiety from the incident, Karen believes the high-level of exposure to carbon monoxide has left her with side effects. "I just don't feel right and I feel off," Karen said, describing how she's experienced severe headaches, dizziness and neck pain. Charlie has recovered well and doesn't seem to remember much from that morning, Karen said. "I just want to make sure that in the end, we're healthy and that we don't have any long-term issues," she said, adding she was told while at the hospital, they are now more susceptible to respiratory illnesses, and future risks of carbon monoxide poisoning. Karen said she heard an alarm coming from the mechanical room around 3 a.m. and had noti ed hotel staff. The InterContinental Hotels Group, the U.S.based company that operates the Oakville hotel, did not return requests for comment. Long-term hotel guest Vern Kaye and his wife were two other guests affected by the CO leak and had told the Oakville Beaver the hotel was one of the best around. "We've been there for a year and who knows, we might be there another three or four months," he said. "The hotel is great. We enjoy the staff and it's one of the best hotels." Oakville's Chief Fire Prevention Of cer Gary LaFramboise said under changes to the Ontario Fire Code announced last fall, hotels such as Staybridge do not require CO detectors in specied rooms until after Oct. 15, 2015. "If they have a gas appliance in each suite then by all means they would have to have one (after Oct. 15)," LaFramboise said. Examples where a hotel would require a CO detector after the fall deadline include: rooms with a gas replace, hot water heater, air conditioner run through the gas system, or if they're adjacent to a mechanical room with a fuel- red appliance like a boiler. As part of those changes to Ontario's Fire Code, all homes in Ontario require working CO alarms. More than 50 people die each year from CO poisoning, including 11 on average in Ontario, according to government-cited statistics compiled by Parachute Canada. LaFramboise said the Oakville Fire Department has advised Staybridge to invest in the CO detectors ahead of next fall, but has no enforcement measures in the interim. "We made the recommendation, but that's as far as we can go right now," he said. "They are concerned about it and they are looking into it." Karen said she hopes her story will help others to understand the seriousness of carbon monoxide poisoning and she plans to invest in a portable CO detector that can attach to her purse. "I want people to know how easily this can happen," Karen said. "Ideally this will help open people's eyes a bit. NEIL OLIVER Vice ­President and Group Publisher DAVID HARVEY Regional General Manager JILL DAVIS Halton Region Editor in Chief Volume 53 | Number 10 447 Speers Road, Oakville ON (905) 845-3824 Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981. 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