Winter Check List!

Winter Check List

• Give Space Heaters Space: As the weather gets cooler, space heaters come out of their summer hiding places, and as it turns out, they need space too. Remember to leave at least three feet of space around your heater. Unplug it when it's not being used. 

• Test your CO Detector: During cold weather, your furnace will be running and your windows will be closed. Test the carbon monoxide detector near your home's bedrooms. 

• Never Heat With an Oven: On chilly autumn mornings, avoid the temptation to warm the kitchen with a gas range or an open oven door. The un-vented products of combustion can quickly build to toxic levels. Take this as an opportunity to indulge in warm socks and robe. 

• Replace Expired Fire Extinguishers: Make sure that the fire extinguisher in your home is still good. If it has expired or discharged, be sure to replace it promptly. You dont want to be without this in case of an emergency. 

• Test Your Local Smoke Detectors: If it needs a new battery, then replace it. If the detector still does not function, replace the detector. This one shouldn't wait til later. 

• Wear Gloves While Doing Yard Work: It is the season for cleaning (isn't every season?) To help avoid blisters and other hand injuries, be sure to wear gloves while doing yard work. 

• Use Your Legs to Lift Heavy Items: Whether you are putting things away for storage or carrying garbage

Luna and Servpro supports Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

How could you not support a great cause! 

-Denea Duran

I am running for Lindsay

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and this is worth watching for six minutes! Tell us what you think! 

http://forlindsay.com/

-Denea Duran

It's what we can do for YOU!

·        

Why choose Servpro? Why not is the question! 

Mitigation requires quick action. The faster a SERVPRO Franchise Professional arrives on site to perform clean up and restoration the better the results including lower claim costs.

·      -   Lower recovery costs: the SERVPRO system helps save money

·       -  Emergency Mitigation service helps minimize additional property damages.

·        - Restoration versus replacement of contents save heirlooms and money too.

·       -  Restorable contents will be cleaned and deodorized to pre-loss condition when possible.

·     - Commercial properties probably have an emergency exit plan in place with illuminated signs leading occupants to safety and even facility maps strategically placed to identify alternate routes out of the building. 

But have you developed a thorough Contingency Plan? Is the emphasis on the first 24-48 hours, to help you get back in your building as quickly as possible? Your local SERVPRO Franchise Professional can provide you assistance in developing an Emergency Response Profile. As part of a well thought out Contingency Plan, your Emergency Response Profile will contain information you need in the event an emergency situation occurs. 

-Denea Duran

National Fire Prevention Week

In honor of National Fire Prevention week, we wanted to share facts about home fires! It could take one step to protect your family! 

Home Fires 

• One home structure fire was reported every 85 seconds in 2010.
• Most fatal fires kill one or two people.  In 2010, 19 home fires killed five or more people. These 19 fires resulted in 101 deaths.
• In 2010, U.S. fire departments responded to 369,500 home structure fires. These fires caused 13,350 civilian injuries, 2,640 civilian deaths, and $6.9 billion in direct damage.

Escape Planning  

• According to an NFPA survey, only one-third of Americans have both developed and practiced a home fire escape plan.
• Almost three-quarters of Americans do have an escape plan; however, less than half actually practiced it.
• One-third of Americans households who made and estimate they thought they would have at least 6 minutes before a fire in their home would become life threatening. The time available is often less. And only 8% said their first thought on hearing a smoke alarm would be to get out! 
  Smoke Alarms
• Almost two-thirds (62%) of reported home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.
• Working smoke alarms cut the risk of dying in reported home fires in half.
• In fires considered large enough to activate the smoke alarm, hardwired alarms operated 92% of the time, while battery powered alarms operated only 77%  of the time.

Content Credit: NFPA.org

-Denea Duran 

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Breast awareness and self-exam

Beginning in their 20s, women should be told about the benefits and limitations of breast self-exam (BSE). Women should be aware of how their breasts normally look and feel and report any new breast changes to a health professional as soon as they are found. Finding a breast change does not necessarily mean there is a cancer.

A woman can notice changes by knowing how her breasts normally look and feel and feeling her breasts for changes (breast awareness), or by choosing to use a step-by-step approach and using a specific schedule to examine her breasts.

Women with breast implants can do BSE. It may be useful to have the surgeon help identify the edges of the implant so that you know what you are feeling. There is some thought that the implants push out the breast tissue and may make it easier to examine. If you choose to do BSE, the following information provides a step-by-step approach for the exam. The best time for a woman to examine her breasts is when the breasts are not tender or swollen. Women who examine their breasts should have their technique reviewed during their periodic health exams by their health care professional.

It is acceptable for women to choose not to do BSE or to do BSE occasionally. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding can also choose to examine their breasts regularly.

Women who choose not to do BSE should still know how their breasts normally look and feel and report any changes to their doctor right away.

How to examine your breasts

Lie down on your back and place your right arm behind your head. The exam is done while lying down, not standing up. This is because when lying down the breast tissue spreads evenly over the chest wall and is as thin as possible, making it much easier to feel all the breast tissue.

Use the finger pads of the 3 middle fingers on your left hand to feel for lumps in the right breast. Use overlapping dime-sized circular motions of the finger pads to feel the breast tissue.

Use 3 different levels of pressure to feel all the breast tissue. Light pressure is needed to feel the tissue closest to the skin; medium pressure to feel a little deeper; and firm pressure to feel the tissue closest to the chest and ribs. It is normal to feel a firm ridge in the lower curve of each breast, but you should tell your doctor if you feel anything else out of the ordinary. If you're not sure how hard to press, talk with your doctor or nurse. Use each pressure level to feel the breast tissue before moving on to the next spot.

Move around the breast in an up and down pattern starting at an imaginary line drawn straight down your side from the underarm and moving across the breast to the middle of the chest bone (sternum or breastbone). Be sure to check the entire breast area going down until you feel only ribs and up to the neck or collar bone (clavicle).

There is some evidence to suggest that the up-and-down pattern (sometimes called the vertical pattern) is the most effective pattern for covering the entire breast without missing any breast tissue.

Repeat the exam on your left breast, putting your left arm behind your head and using the finger pads of your right hand to do the exam.

While standing in front of a mirror with your hands pressing firmly down on your hips, look at your breasts for any changes of size, shape, contour, or dimpling, or redness or scaliness of the nipple or breast skin. (The pressing down on the hips position contracts the chest wall muscles and enhances any breast changes.)

Examine each underarm while sitting up or standing and with your arm only slightly raised so you can easily feel in this area. Raising your arm straight up tightens the tissue in this area and makes it harder to examine.

This procedure for doing breast self-exam is different from previous recommendations. These changes represent an extensive review of the medical literature and input from an expert advisory group. There is evidence that this position (lying down), the area felt, pattern of coverage of the breast, and use of different amounts of pressure increase a woman's ability to find abnormal areas

Content Credit: http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/BreastCancer/MoreInformation/BreastCancerEarlyDetection/breast-cancer-early-detection-acs-recs-bse

-Denea Duran 

Why Have a Professional Clean Your Carpet?

Sometimes it's better
to have a professional
take care of the
problem.

SERVPRO Home Furnishing Guide

Why Have a Professional Clean Your Carpet?

How often should you have a professional clean your carpets? The cleaning frequency for a home depends on several factors, such as the number of persons living in the home, number of children and pets, and whether any occupants are smokers. Outside factors also determine cleaning frequency, such as weather conditions, industrial pollution or dusty conditions, humidity, type of surface on outside entryways, etc.

A combination of conditions may require your carpets to be cleaned professionally more often. The main consideration is to clean carpets before they become totally saturated with soil. Dirt builds up in layers, and when a carpet looks dirty you are only seeing the dirt at the tips of the fibers. The dirt hiding below the surface down near the base of the pile is what causes most damage to a carpet. When a carpet is saturated with dirt, the soil has penetrated crevices and has become firmly lodged.

SERVPRO Franchise Professionals employ six methods of carpet cleaning. The best method for a carpet cleaning situation depends on the type of carpet, type of fibers, age and condition of the carpet, how the carpet is soiled, the type of soil, and other factors including your own needs as a carpet owner.

SERVPRO Franchise Professionals follow the highest quality standards and workmanship. You need not worry about shrinkage, over-wetting, mildew, rapid resoiling, and many other problem areas.

SERVPRO Franchise Professionals remove the loose grit from the pile of the carpet. The sharp edges of gritty soils cut the carpet fibers - this dry, loose grit must be removed before cleaning solution is applied.

SERVPRO Franchise Professionals remove the atmospheric soil created by cooking, smoking, heating, auto exhaust, etc. Removal of this oily, sticky residue will brighten your carpet color.

With six professional carpet cleaning methods, the SERVPRO Franchise Professional has the flexibility to respond to your unique situation.SERVPRO Franchise carpet cleaning will match the cleaning method to your needs.

-Denea Duran