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safety

Kayla Berridge went above and beyond.

Kayla Berridge had been walking her normal 9-mile delivery route in Newmarket, a small town in New Hampshire, when she noticed something unusual.

The mail she had been delivering continued to pile up over a matter of days at one resident’s home. The resident was an elderly woman in her 80s, and would occasionally share a chat with Berridge, according to CNN.

Berridge told CNN that after noticing the unattended mail pile, she got “a little concerned.”

“I just had this gut feeling and wanted to make sure,” Berridge told WMUR 9 News, explaining that “most people put a hold in if they’re not there, so when people pick up their mail every day, you start to notice their habits.” Not to mention, the woman’s car was still in the driveway.

Berridge followed her instincts and called the local police department for a wellness check, and in the process saved the elderly woman’s life.

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Photo by Martin Splitt on Unsplash

Classes available to learn the life saving technique of CPR.

This article originally appeared on 06.27.17


Summer is here. The season of backyard barbecues, long evenings by the bonfire, and a nagging worry that every parent can relate to — the dangers that come with a swimming pool.

The chances a child will die from drowning are relatively low, according to the CDC. But still — it's great to be prepared to step in and help with CPR, should it ever be necessary.


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Photo by Tijs van Leur on Unsplash

High-density crowds can quickly become dangerous.

From concerts to festivals to parades, people love to gather together in shared experiences. Crowds, however, can go from "Oh, there's lots of people here" to a dangerous or even deadly situation without much warning.

The world was shocked and saddened by the news of a Halloween festival crowd crush that killed more than 150 people in South Korea, with officials left debating what safety measures could have prevented such a tragedy. The risk of a deadly surge is always present in high-density crowds, so it's good to know what individuals can do to protect themselves if they find themselves trapped in a wave of people.

Crowd safety expert Paul Wertheimer started going to rock concerts and diving into mosh pits in his 40s, not because he was into Slayer or Metallica or Pantera, but because he wanted to analyze crowd behavior through firsthand experience. He's now been studying crowds for three decades and has sage advice for what to do if you find yourself in a crowd crush situation.

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Photo by Jan Baborák on Unsplash

Large SUVs and trucks can have huge blind zones out front.

Since the invention of the automobile, humans have worked on innovative ways to make driving and riding in cars safer. From seatbelts to airbags to electronic stability control, cars today are safer than they've ever been.

Some safety features are also designed to make driving safer for people outside the car. Backup cameras have made backing out of a driveway far less nerve-wracking, allowing drivers to see those tiny tykes on trikes who sometimes dash by on the sidewalk. (Seriously the best invention.)

But along with increased safety features have come car design trends that make some aspects of new vehicles less safe. SUVs have been around for a while, and many families buy them for both comfort and safety. But as many SUVs have gotten bigger and taller, the blind zones in front of the car have become much larger and more dangerous than people might think.

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