Meet with The Cortland County Health Department about Radon Testing

Matt Brooks: [00:00:00] Good morning. I’m Matt Brooks on X 1 0 1 Oh Ways Classic in for another edition to meet Cortland County. And joining me today is Liz from the Cortland County Health Department. Man, it’s been about a year since you’ve been on air.

Liz: Yeah, just another, another year slips by.

Matt Brooks: Yeah. It’s hard to believe it’s already 26, but one problem that we were talking about last year, it’s still a problem today.

It’s radon.

Liz: Yes, I’m back again talking about radon, radon in Cortland County. We know that Cortland County has some of the highest radon level readings in New York State, and it’s a big concern for our residents and that’s why I wanna, join you again and spread the message about testing your home.

Matt Brooks: Yeah, it’s radon is, I mean, it’s unfortunately something that’s more. Prominent in Cortland County. Can you tell me what it is though? Is it, I mean, it’s on the periodic table. That’s pretty much all I know,

Liz: right? So what’s radon? Radons? A naturally occurring radioactive gas. It’s found in soil and rock, and it can get into our [00:01:00] homes through cracks in the foundation walls, joints.

Sump pumps, and when radon breaks down, it can become radioactive and in it can damage our lung tissue. That’s what we’re, what we’re getting into and why I’m here is because radon is linked to lung cancer and it’s the leading cause of lung cancer in. Non-smokers.

Matt Brooks: The scary thing too is, I mean, unlike tobacco, smoke a radioactive gas, you don’t really feel the effects, right?

It’s you, you’re in your home, right? Especially in these colder months, and you’re just breathing it in without knowing,

Liz: right? You, you can’t smell it, taste it, you don’t know it’s there. It’s invisible. And it’s linked to, long-term exposure. So it’s. Radon exposure is something that is happening from, think about the home you were born in, did that have radon, and then the home you grew up in?

The home that you live in now.

Matt Brooks: Now that’s kind of scary. I mean, it’s, it’s a colorless gas. Even though we say radioactive, [00:02:00] it doesn’t glow green. But there are at least ways to make sure you are safe or in specifically your home. And we were talking about these, before we got on air at home test kits.

How, how do those work? I mean, do you have to like tent up your house like it’s pest control or

Liz: No, this, so testing is easy. Testing’s the only way to know if you. Or your and your family are at risk from radon exposure. And so we have free radon test kits available for Cortland County residents. It’s so easy to get a kit, and then you’ll have an idea, you’ll have a baseline of what’s going on in your home, what are you being exposed to, so you’re able to get those kits by either calling me or even going to our website and filling out a form.

It’s that easy. If you don’t wanna, have to make that call and talk to me directly, you can just go fill out the form and then I’ll reach out to you and we can get you that free radon test kit.

Matt Brooks: When you get the test kit, [00:03:00] what mean, can you kind of talk about the process, in you, like put it in your basement or what do you do?

Liz: Yes, so great question. So you, when you go to tests, you’re thinking about. For yourself. Again, getting this baseline, what’s going on in the home is you wanna think about where do you spend time, where is your exposure? So if you are in the basement, you do laundry down there, you have a workout room, then yes, you need to test in the basement.

If your basement is completely sealed off, then you would probably, we suggest test in on your first floor, because that’s where your exposure is taking place and. Testing is easy. We provide education material instructions. We provide the, resources to to link to if you need to go see a radon professional because you’re considering mitigation, we can help you out with that.

If you need a staff member to come out and assist you with that test kit setup, it literally takes five minutes. And one of our staff people can come [00:04:00] out to your home and help you through that process. So we have all sorts of different levels of support.

Matt Brooks: That’s great to hear. ’cause I mean, sometimes instructions can get tricky.

It’s good to, especially you want it done right? ’cause if it’s not done right and you’re not knowing, if you are getting exposed to radon, which as we said, you don’t really know until it’s too late, unfortunately. So. If it’s positive, you have the steps to go from there. If it’s negative, that’s great to hear, but overall, it’s critical that you know the answers to your own home and get those test kits.

Liz: Yes, that’s the critical piece. What’s going on in your home, what’s going on in your environment, and don’t panic. Because again, this is looking at lifetime exposure. When you’re thinking about those elevated risks and it’s individual to the person, what are your risk factors, things like that. So yes, we wanna connect you and my number, 6 0 7 4 2 8 5 4 1 0 6 0 7 4 2 8 5 [00:05:00] 4 1 0, or just go to Cortland County New york.gov and radon.

You’re gonna, you’re gonna pull up our website and you’re gonna be able to fill out that form.

Matt Brooks: It, it’s so easy. There’s no reason not to do it, especially since, I mean, we’re talking about one of the leading causes of lung cancer if you’re a non-smoker. Thank you, Liz, for, joining me this morning.

Liz: Great to be here. Thanks, Matt.

Matt Brooks: And this has been another edition of me, Cortland County here on X 1 0 1 oh. Ways Classic. I’m Matt Brooks.