I have cardiopulmonary disease. Air quality is always a concern in the Ohio River Valley
Watching what happened to the air quality of the East Coast has been frightening, and I hope we wake up to the part air pollution plays in climate change.
Every morning I check the Air Now app on my phone. I have fibrosing mediastinitis and several other cardiopulmonary diseases. I wear oxygen and lug an eight-pound portable concentrator around. At home, I’m tethered to a home unit that weighs 40 pounds. Right now, the Air Quality number is 128, in the orange zone, considered unhealthy for older adults, young children or people with respiratory issues. Any number over one hundred is considered problematic.
Air pollution is usually not a media topic, even in our climate change-conscious society. But, as residents of the Ohio River Valley, we are all too familiar with summer days with a grey haze that represents what weather pundits call an Air Quality Alert day. The fires in Canada now have raised this critical issue to the top of the media flagpole, with apocalyptic scenes from many major East Coast cities. On Wednesday, June 7, New York City reached an Air Quality Index in the mid-300s, and the skyline mirrored the Martian sunset from an old movie.
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For me, air quality is a minute-by-minute concern. I had no respiratory problems as a child and developed asthma at age 34, four years after I moved from Florida to the Ohio River Valley. We all share a toxic soup of ozone and weather. We live close to many coal-fired plants, five within 50 miles of my home. A bumper sticker reading “This is Coal Country” is frequently on the back of vehicles. Science has determined a relationship between the burning of fossil fuels and air pollution.
Even with oxygen, I live with shortness of breath. I have trouble climbing stairs. Taking the clothes out of the top-load washer gets me winded. I’ve learned ways to accommodate washing my hair because holding my arms over my head wears me out.
And on those ubiquitous summer days when heat and humidity exceed 90, air inversions hold down ozone and particulate matter. Every person in our river valleys should be concerned on those days about what’s going into their lungs, and especially their children’s lungs. It’s time to dig out N95 masks for your family, especially your children, when outside on a day when the Air Quality Index is above 100.
More: Louisville allows more emissions from Clariant plant. What to know about health risks
An Environmental Protection Agency paper described particulate matter and how it can affect the body. “Particulate matter contains microscopic solids or liquid droplets so small that they can be inhaled and cause serious health problems.” The EPA study described tiny particles less than 10 micrometers in diameter that may go into the lungs or bloodstream.
The Centers for Disease Control note we are in danger of more respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular hospitalizations and lung issues. People sensitive to allergens may have worsening problems due to air pollution and deaths will increase.
What happened last week across significant swaths of the continental United States should be a cautionary tale for us in the Ohio River Valley.
Amy McVay Abbott is a journalist and author who lives in southern Indiana.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Wild fire and pollution: When wearing oxygen air quality is a concern
