Re: School, mold and cancer??

[Guest guest]

Sounds like the hospital that I work at. I was able to get test results which showed presence of various molds after badgering my boss for 4 months. The first time I asked for results she looked me straight in the eye and said she would move my locker!!Many coworkers sick. One died last year of lung cancer. Two years ago she was a beautiful woman with the glow of health. Her office was flooded so bad from the ceiling that everything had to be moved out and dried. The woman in the office next to her ended up in the ICU on a ventilator and has very bad asthma. A nurse on another floor died last year of respiratory failure never knowing if L & I would approve her claim. There are three coworkers in my dept. with hepatitis and others with asthma.

I have asthma and have had two sinus operations in three years. Last one a month ago showed prior fungal infection by calcific changes in sinus cavity and also was full of Staph.Last week I had another sinus infection and was told by my Doc to stay home for a week. She sent me to my pulmonologist who was concerned about my excessive swelling in my leg so I was sent for an echcardiogram today.

My Internist begged me to see the Chief of Medicine at the hospital.She,my pulmonologist,and ENT Doc are frustrated that the hospital is ignoring all of the sick staff. I did see the chief today, who is also an infectious disease specialist, and he was quite upset. He stated that at the administrative meeting last winter they were all shown the lab reports. Because the air quality was lower inside than out he said the mold was OK. He said there is mold everywhere and a little aspergillus will not harm anyone. We have aspergillus,penicillium,chaetomotium,stachybotrys,etc.and that is only in our locker area. Other parts of the hospital are worse I told him that all that I have read states if there is visible mold and can smell it, plus EXTENSIVE water damage then you have a problem. To have Stachy show up on a swab sampling also is indicative of a serious mold growth.

I found out from members of maintenance dept.that the filters were changed out before the air sampling test which was done two weeks after the swab samples were done.

No one in Admin will say the four letter word--mold.

After I saw the chief of med. I went to work and immediately was called in to my Directors office where she strongly urged me to find another job as my health was declining. I am now an embarrassment since I persist in finding the truth and now have more proof that there is a mess here. My pulmonologist fears that if I leave nothing will be done. As I told him I need the help of the medical community. Everyone else is afraid to make a stand. I am getting weary, need to get my health back, plus I need to work but in a healthy environment.

I am so disgusted.

We thought it would be easier in school where you have parents concerned about their kids. Parents pay taxes which fund schools. Two of our more affluent communities in my area were successful in getting their schools cleaned up. In the state of Washington the Board of Health oversees schools but WISHA which is Washington's branch of OSHA oversees workplace problems. I have learned a lot in the past few months. My hospital has violated many of my rights. The latest is posting on a bulletin board next to the OR desk a notice about filing a workman's comp. claim. It states at the end of this that any false claims will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Needless to say, staff is fearful of this. I told L & I and they are furious. They have asked me to send them a copy.

Eileen

[Guest guest]

When I started working at this job in an OR five years ago I asked where the humidity monitors were for each room. Standards are very high regarding the heat & moisture for room. I was told that the HVAC dept. was "state of the art" and the monitors were in the HVAC area. I thought this strange but being new and not an HVAC guru guessed this was OK.

Last year a new manager was hired at our satellite day surgery facility. She immediately asked the same question and demanded to see such monitoring. We ended up getting humidity monitors in every OR. At the memorial service for a coworker who had just died of lung ca. she was accused by the assist. administrator of being a whislte-blower.Nine months later she was fired.

Eileen

[Guest guest]

,

I am seeking an attorney to file claim against the hospital,administration,architect, & contractors who built shoddy additions, infection control nurse, employee health nurse,personnell dept. maintenance director who has ignored pleas and complaints from everyone, including his own staff. He is the idiot who told admin. that everything was OK, but then he was probably told to do that to cover tracks. He probably rues the day that he answered my complaints of flooding in the locker area.

What they have been doing for years is criminal. Many people have been made chronically ill or died because of this.

Who knows if I will be able to find a lawyer to take up the challenge.

Eileen

[Guest guest]

Mold spores are everywhere therefore finding spores means little.

+70% RH for +24 hours grows mold. Find the high humidity areas and

you will find where the mold is growing. A simple relative humidity

meter is a powerful $15 tool. Most maintenance dept. will respond to

high humidity complaints. High humidity leads you to the water leak,

malfunctioning dehumidification equipment, or undehumidified

infiltrating outside humid air.

> I have posted before with many questions, and have gleaned so much

info from

> all, Thank you.

> I read daily about schools that are cleaning up their problems, I

want to

> know how they are forced to do this?!

> I work at a school, my classroom made me severely sick, I figured

it out, it

> was tested for mold, and came back with at least 18 different types

of mold.

> The district denies any problem, they 'cleaned' it up and plan to

re-use the

> room.

> As it is a school district, no attorneys are interested in

fighting, no

> money. As I am mostly recovered, thank Dog, I have little to sue

for, which

> is not what I am after, I want a clean, safe work environment.

There are many

> sick teachers, God knows how many kids, as it is a big secret. No

one will

> tell me what types of mold they found, worker's comp was denied,

etc, etc.

> Parents are not being told, as we have been warned against talking.

The

> newspaper is not interested. What can I do?? My next option is to

quit, for

> fear of my health. Osha has no air quaility guidelines concerning

mold in

> schools, they have been no help, I can not get anyone to listen!

> Also, another question, are there known links to cancer, I have my

beliefs,

> but is there any evidence? Two of our school employees have been

diagnosed

> with terminal cancer and leukemia within the past 6 months, a few

years ago,

> another healthy individual was diagnosed with lung cancer, and died

within

> months.

> Any thoughts?? TYIA

[Guest guest]

My husband is suspected of having developed throat cancer but refuses to go to the hospital for further tests to confirm it. As for myself, I will not go to a mainstream doctor again, only to be told that this 'mold stuff'' is a bunch of hype. We are still in this moldy apartment, God help us but if you are afraid of cancer, NO MEDICAL ADVICE, go to:

www.pacificbotanicals.com and order some wild crafted red clover, dried flowering tops and drink red clover tea freely. Best wishes to you.....Betsy

----- Original Message -----

From: Puffbu@...

Sent: Monday, October 28, 2002 10:17 PM

Subject: [] School, mold and cancer??

Also, another question, are there known links to cancer, I have my beliefs, but is there any evidence? Two of our school employees have been diagnosed with terminal cancer and leukemia within the past 6 months, a few years ago, another healthy individual was diagnosed with lung cancer, and died within months. Any thoughts?? TYIA