93: Asthma Capitals: The Most Challenging US Cities

Lisa Beres 0:04

How would you like to improve your health and keep your family safe? You're listening to the Healthy Home Hacks podcast where we firmly believe in joining optimal health shouldn't be a luxury. Healthy Home authorities and husband and wife team Ron and Lisa will help you create a home environment that will level up your health. It's time to hear from the experts. Listen in on honest conversations and gain the best tips and advice. If you're ready to dive in and improve your well being and increase your energy, you're in the right place. All right, here are your hosts, baubiologists, authors, media darlings, vicarious vegans and avocado aficionados, Ron and Lisa Beres.

Ron Beres 0:49

Think you may live in an asthma capital. Hang tight because our guest today is going to tell you and friends stay tuned till the end because we're going to share the healthier home checklist where you can learn tips to improve your home's asthma and allergy hotspots. You don't want to miss this. And if you're sniffling, sneezing, stuffy nose, water eyes got you down. You're not alone. More than 100 million Americans suffer from various types of allergies, including 81 million with seasonal allergies triggered by pollen and mold. And

Lisa Beres 1:26

And then there's asthma a chronic condition that more than 27 million people in the US separate from about one in 12 people and it's caused by inflammation in the airways that leads to the lungs, the bronchial tubes, which become blocked or narrowed. Most sufferers respond negatively to environmental triggers such as pollen, household cleaners, perfumes and fragrances dust mites, pet dander and mold. And while there is no cure for asthma, it is a treatable condition.

Ron Beres 1:55

You know, we recently passed the asthma peak month, which is September, a time when several factors ragweed pollen, flu season, children going to school and more combine to make breathing more difficult for people with asthma. And each September, doctors treat more people for asthma attacks, asthma emergency visits and hospitalizations. In fact, the third week of the month, known as asthma peak week, is often the worst.

Lisa Beres 2:22

But before you breathe a sigh of relief and think you're out of the woods, grab your Kleenex because the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America the AEFA released their 2023 Asthma capitals report that highlights the most challenging cities to live with asthma.

Ron Beres 2:43

We are thrilled to have with us, Kenneth Mendez, the President and CEO of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Welcome to the show, Kenneth.

Kenneth Mendez 2:55

Great. Well, thanks for having me. Ron. Lisa. Great to be here.

Lisa Beres 2:59

We are so excited. Kenneth. And this is a great topic we actually have not covered on the podcast. Our listeners are gonna love today's show. Right?

Ron Beres 3:07

We save it for you, Kenneth. No pressure.

Lisa Beres 3:12

All right, well, I want to dive right in with the pink elephant. We've been dangling at the top of the show. And a lot of listeners who do suffer from asthma are wondering do they live in an asthma capital? Can you tell us what the top 10 Asthma capitals for 2023? Are? Drumroll?

Kenneth Mendez 3:33

Sure, let me tell you about the report. First off, yes to continue that drumroll. And how we get there because I think that's the most important thing. We look at the 100 largest cities, and we say which ones are the most challenging to live in with asthma. And we use three things, prevalence, the prevalence of asthma, emergency room visits, and mortality. So unfortunately, what a lot of people don't realize is that you can die from asthma. Over 3100 people die each year from asthma. So it's really important to understand what your triggers are, and have control of your asthma.

Lisa Beres 4:13

Hmm. I did not know that. I didn't know that many people died. That's interesting.

Ron Beres 4:17

Is that worldwide? Or is that US?

Kenneth Mendez 4:19

That's in the US, okay,

Lisa Beres 4:21

Are they dying because they don't have their treatment available?

Kenneth Mendez 4:25

There are a number of reasons why it happens. But sometimes it's because you know, you don't have your asthma under control. And you're not aware. That's why, you know, I start off saying this because people have asthma. Many people have asthma, but they don't realize that if you don't take it seriously, it could actually kill you. So it's really important to understand what your triggers are. And you know, it relates to a healthier home. And that's why you know, the topic of this show is so important. And it is somewhat sobering to kind of think about this but you the top 10 capitals.

Ron Beres 5:03

Are they from what you ordered 10 to 1 or 1 to 10.Yeah,

Kenneth Mendez 5:07

The top 10 capitals are Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Ron Beres 5:11

Well, what was it Allentown like from the song? The Billy Joe song? Wow, okay.

Lisa Beres 5:15

Okay. Kenneth, is that the worst? So we've gone from worst to best.

Kenneth Mendez 5:19

We're going from worst.

Lisa Beres 5:20

Worst. Okay. I'm sorry guys.

Kenneth Mendez 5:23

Allentown, Pennsylvania, Lakeland, Florida, Charleston, South Carolina, Cleveland, Ohio, Detroit, Michigan, Poughkeepsie, New York, Richmond, Virginia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Fresno, California and Rochester, New York.

Ron Beres 5:41

Wow.

Lisa Beres 5:42

All across the country, not like a area, you know. Yeah, Lester,

Kenneth Mendez 5:46

You know, it's funny, since we're mentioning this instance, we released this report, during peak week or right before peak week, the mayor from Allentown actually called us and said, How can you help us move to a lower ranking? But I mean, that's why we do this, because it's really important to understand what causes your triggers? What are some of the things you could do in your community or in your home to reduce asthma triggers?

Lisa Beres 6:15

Let's get into that. Okay. So Allentown? What's going on there? That's worse than other parts? Is it the pollution, the smog?

Kenneth Mendez 6:22

Yeah, I think it's the prevalence in the emergency room visits. Thankfully, mortality wasn't, they didn't rank playing that area. Those were the highest. Now, you know, one of the other things that people don't understand is that asthma disproportionately impacts certain communities. So Black Americans are three times more likely to die from asthma, five times more likely to be treated in an emergency room. And black women have the highest mortality rate of any gender or ethnic group. Puerto Rican Americans are two times more likely to be diagnosed with asthma than white Americans. And actually, there's a very high Puerto Rican, Hispanic community in Allentown, according to the mayor, and I did that. So when he reached out, we talked about it, we talked about certain zip codes and that community have more challenges. And so it was really good that he reached out we want to work with them over the next year or so to try and reduce and move him further down on the list.

Lisa Beres 7:24

Yes, let's get on down then. This is a list you don't want to be the top of.

Ron Beres 7:27

Right. You don't want to win this contest. Quick question. I know a couple of years ago, you're mentioning behind the scenes here that Detroit was the worst? Did they do anything different to get themselves a lower ranking this year? Or is it just always different?

Kenneth Mendez 7:41

I think it's different than the case study that we try and use is actually because it takes some time. But the case study, we use a Springfield, Massachusetts, because that was number one a number of years ago. And in fact, they used our report to help advocate for better policies locally. So for example, there was a wood burning plant that they were trying to install in Springfield, Mass, using wood pellets, saying that it was sustainable, recyclable because you're using wood from trees. But in fact, it's not, you know, you're throwing off smoke from the smokestacks of this Woodbridge. And so they defeated that, move that down. And the other thing they've done is used, had, you know, better policies within the community to reduce pollution, and to improve health care and access to health care. So that's what moved them down the list and a site that is easily trying to move themselves down the list. We actually have a program in Detroit, which is under our health equity advancement and leadership program where we have a chapter there, and they are working in the community locally to reduce asthma, you know, exacerbations, mortality, emergency room visits, and we're seeing that their program has reduced some of that by about 50% and that's significant.

Lisa Beres 7:57

Yeah, that's significant.

Kenneth Mendez 9:05

Improved outcomes. Detroit's a big town. But that's just an example of what our chapter in Detroit has been doing working with us to try and improve things locally there.

Lisa Beres 9:16

Do you have a chapter in every state?

Kenneth Mendez 9:19

We do not know. We have a chapter in Detroit, St. Louis, in New England, and Alaska, but we partner with organizations, local organizations, you don't have to be a chapter that are under the umbrella of our health equity program. So we partnered with a group in Los Angeles called Breathe SoCal. They're on the ground working in their communities. You know, it's funny, bringing it back to the healthier home issue here. You know, all asthma. It's about your local environment, the indoor air environment, and so working on the ground with community based programs to help people understand what the triggers are in their homes is really important and can improve outcomes, reduce emergency room visits, and in fact save money in the long term for the healthcare system.

Lisa Beres 10:09

So what kind of things give us some things in our home that we could do right now to reduce our asthma triggers?

Kenneth Mendez 10:16

Yeah, sure. It's certainly understanding what your triggers are in the first place. So there's something called allergic asthma. So if you have dust mites, if you have carpets that collect dust mites and other allergens, and that gets stirred up indoors, and those are triggers, that stuff that you can control so you can remove your carpets, certified asthma and allergy friendly vacuum cleaners or remove some of the pollutants in your carpets. For dust mites for example.

Lisa Beres 10:46

I'm sorry to interject, when you look for that vacuum, will it have the logo on it?

Kenneth Mendez 10:49

Yeah we have a program that certifies products that are asthma and allergy friendly to certain scientific standards. And you can find all of that on our website: aafa.org/certified. The other thing is dust mites. You spend 90% of your time indoors, and probably close to 80% of your time in your bedroom. And you're sleeping, you're in your bedroom, and dust mites. And their feces actually are what the allergens are. And those are in your bed because they live off of your dried skin that comes off of you. So those are in your bed.

Ron Beres 11:25

So are you saying Kenneth. No, I am joking.

Lisa Beres 11:29

Creepy crawlies whether you can see them or not.

Kenneth Mendez 11:32

And it's really, you know, their waste product, that is the trigger for you. But if you have a certified asthma and allergy friendly casing on your mattress, or on your pillow, which we all have, that will reduce exposure to some of their droppings. The other thing we suggest doing is washing your sheets at 130 degrees to make sure you can effectively kill this waste product, we actually have detergent in our certified asthma and allergy friendly program that helps do that as well, because people don't realize that in order to get your washing machine to 130 degrees, not all of them can do that. Because it really depends on the temperature in your home and your water temperature. The ones that are certified actually have a heating element in them is certified detergent actually could do that at lower temperatures. Oh, interesting, which is really good. So I mean, those are just short things. But I mean, the other thing to think about is mold, that can be a trigger. So if you're in your bathroom, for example, and you just take a shower, and it's all misty and foggy in your bathroom, run the fan in there to remove the moisture, open a window until all the moisture is gone because the moisture stays in there that can create mold. And mold can be a trigger for your asthma and allergies. So those are things to remember. And then there's something called allergic asthma. Where if you have allergies that can be triggered. So allergies to pollen outdoors, for example. So if you know that it's a bad allergy day, then keep your windows closed indoors and not let the outdoor air come inside.

Lisa Beres 13:15

How many people would you estimate don't know they have certain allergies, like I had a dust mite allergy and I didn't know it until one day I went to get an environmental test and found out Oh, you're severely allergic to dust mites. And I thought God I've been sleeping on these pillows with no encasement and had no idea and actually the wrong pillows to you know that attract dust mites like down and that kind of thing.

Kenneth Mendez 13:42

Yeah, I mean, I can't tell you what the number is. But let me say this in another way. Because this relates to climate change and allergies. You know what allergies are. And asthma. It's an immune system response to allergens basically when you have allergic asthma and allergic asthma can be a trigger for asthma itself. But climate change and global warming has created longer and more intense allergy seasons. So allergy seasons have gotten longer because in the springtime because it's warmer, the trees start to bloom a lot sooner. So you have an earlier spring bloom and then in the fall, ragweed is the main culprit and ragweed gets killed off when the first frost comes. But because it's a lot warmer that first frost doesn't come until much later to that carbon dioxide which if you remember from grade school that can be basically it creates more intense releases of pollen from plants. So you have more intense releases of pollen because of the carbon dioxide longer growing seasons and that makes allergies a lot worse. So this is a long answer to your question leads to a lot of people are saying I've never had allergies before, right? It's starting to have them now. Body its total allergic load. Because they're more allergens in the air. Now, you might not have had allergies previously. But now you're starting to feel it would have known you've had allergies previously. You're feeling it? Yeah, you always tell people go see your doctor, go see a specialist, if possible to get tested, like you did to understand what your triggers are. Right? There's this better? And you could do without medication. If you know, internally, I mean, it just depends on what your threshold is.

Lisa Beres 15:37

Right.

Kenneth Mendez 15:37

But you know, reducing the allergens inside your home.

Lisa Beres 15:41

Yeah. And we've had IQair Glory Dolphin Hammes on the show. And they do this air quality monitor the air visual, which is an app and an monitor that you can put indoors. And they also have an outdoor version where they collect data all over the world. But that's great, too. I think if you are a severe allergy or asthma sufferer, having an air monitor in your house that will let you know when these levels get too high, even indoors, which is possible.

Kenneth Mendez 16:08

Yeah. I mean, the other tips to have is just pretty simply, whenever you're at the stove, and you're cooking something turn on the fan. Yes. Never not have the fan on there. That's really important. Never.

Lisa Beres 16:23

Don't save it just for a smoke out. Are you? Yeah, I mean, honestly, we're kind of guilty of that. Right, Ron? We use it if something's burning or.

Ron Beres 16:32

Right. I tried to put it on. And I you know, when I'm cooking, but you do forget sometimes. And that's a good reminder there. Kenneth, we should have asked you from the beginning. What are the symptoms of allergies? So we're all we hear about these triggers, but what are the symptoms?

Lisa Beres 16:43

Yeah, give us the symptoms.

Kenneth Mendez 16:44

Yeah, so allergy, sneezing, runny nose, cough, you know, congestion. Those are symptoms of allergies. And then for asthma, it's you know, difficulty breathing, wheezing, coughing, that's a sign of asthma. And you know, seeing your doctor is really important because they could diagnose asthma. They'll do an intake, they'll ask your family history. It's really important to see a doctor to diagnose your asthma.

Lisa Beres 17:10

Yeah, exactly. If you're listening guys, and you're suffering from what Kenneth just said, these Wheezy watery eye, sniffily congestion breathing symptoms, don't just live with it, see if maybe something in your home around you is triggering it.

Kenneth Mendez 17:26

Exactly.

Lisa Beres 17:27

Test test test. So can you share with us some of the most common types of allergens? You mentioned a few of the main ones?

Kenneth Mendez 17:35

Yeah, dust mites is a main one. It worse, pollen, mold, some of the smoke that you have, you know, from your cooking. I mean, I think those are one of them than the other one we didn't talk about yet. But it's animal dander.

Ron Beres 17:51

You made our pet owner fans really angry right now. Right.

Kenneth Mendez 17:55

One of the other things, the easy thing is, don't let them sleep in your bed.

Lisa Beres 17:59

I thank you, Kenneth. I tell people that we were on HSN home shopping network once and I told the host and he was like, what? He's like, I sleep with my two dogs every night. That's not gonna happen. I'm like, well..

Kenneth Mendez 18:11

Keep them out of your bedroom. Because your time there, because you're just breathing in touching all their allergens. Yeah, those are really the top ones dust mites. If you have a cat or dog, you know, their dander is really what the issue is. How mold and smoke and other pollutants in the home.

Ron Beres 18:30

Okay, those are great. Kenneth is your home perfectly clean air quality? There's a tested every minute. What is your life like Kenneth, when you walk into your home?

Kenneth Mendez 18:38

Unfortunately, that's one of the reasons why I have this job. Yeah, two of my three kids had severe asthma allergies. And I do, too. So I never had a dog growing up, for example, because of asthma and allergies. Oh, wow. Kids convinced me we had to get a dog. So I eventually got a dog. And you know, I kept him out of the bedroom as much as I could, and you know, eventually got used to having him around. I mean, one of the things you could do, there's no specific science behind this. But if you were on a farm, for example, you know, start your kids early, if you go out and a farmer get exposed to all those allergens, so they can develop some sensitivity to that.

Lisa Beres 19:20

Okay, so you can build up a tolerance. Like if you have allergies, and you're around it, will you build up a tolerance to it?

Kenneth Mendez 19:26

Well, yes or no, it just depends. But if you think about the allergy shots, for example, that is desensitization. So they figure out they do a scratch test. And that's the most accurate test really is they prick you with some of the allergens and then they watch your skin. If your skin gets reaction, you know what those allergens are? And then they give you small amounts of that over time, over a year period or so.

Lisa Beres 19:52

What is that called? Is there a name for that? The allergy shots? Is there like an umbrella term? I thought I heard of it.

Kenneth Mendez 19:59

It's desensitization. Oh, okay. So, yeah, that's basically what the program is. I mean, that's the allergy shots is the easiest way to do it. I mean, they're developing some therapies, which you could do, and it's sublingual, which you can take some of these allergens in your mouth, under your tongue and start to develop some resistance to those over time. But the ones that had been around forever, that really haven't changed much since I was a kid, I got allergy shots, and you know, my kids are still getting them. They've gotten them now they're much older, but it does help.

Lisa Beres 20:33

Okay. So that's kind of a natural approach, really, because is there anything natural, totally natural, if you wanted to go a route where you didn't do the shots? Besides avoidance?

Kenneth Mendez 20:44

No, not really avoidance, keeping your indoor air clean, if you wanted to avoid the shots. I mean, that's what we're talking about. The counter medications is the other thing if you don't want to take shots, but it just depends on how miserable you are, you know, one of the things we do say is, you know, start taking your allergy medication before the allergy season, because it takes some time to build up in your system.

Lisa Beres 21:06

And speaking of allergy season, is it true that you could well, you can have allergies all year round? Correct? I mean, obviously, we have the peak. Right. So allergies in the winter, that's the thing.

Kenneth Mendez 21:17

Yeah, in order to get a mold, you could still have triggers inside. Yes. Okay.

Lisa Beres 21:22

Yeah. Excellent. Now, you kind of mentioned different ethnicities are more susceptible and prone to asthma. And these things? Do males and females have different rates of asthma?

Kenneth Mendez 21:33

Yes, it depends on what age you are in youth, you know, children will have more asthma girls in particular. And then once they hit puberty, it reverses, but it can come back later on. So it really just depends, but for some of the statistics I gave you earlier, you know, women, black women have the highest mortality rate, any gender or ethnic group?

Lisa Beres 21:57

Is that a genetic thing? Or is that more of a regional socio economic situation?

Kenneth Mendez 22:03

Yeah, it's complicated. But I would say that there are social determinants of health. And you can determine someone's healthiness by their zip code. And there's certain communities that historically have been forced into some of these communities. In addition, their access to health care can be more challenging in the communities. And then even in working with doctors or specialists, there's a certain bias that might happen based on your skin color, or your gender. And that can be an issue as well. These are all things that contribute to some of the disparities that we see with asthma.

Lisa Beres 22:47

Yeah, and to be honest, we see that also with the chemical load and the toxic body burden, based on you know, where you might live next to say, a factory or freeways, you know, heavily polluted dense areas, and low income areas, you're going to have more exposure to a lot of these chemicals to so that's unfortunate, you know, but I'm glad to hear the cities are reaching out to you and, you know, taking this serious and working on, you know, efforts to improve that. I think that's great. So go Allentown mayor, yeah,

Ron Beres 23:17

Yes. Call up Kenneth and fix it right. Can you go a little more detail on what are the two types of asthma? And what is the difference between the two?

Kenneth Mendez 23:27

Asthma is very complicated in terms of which parts of your body are reacting. So there's allergic asthma, which can be triggered, but you could have asthma just from, you know, the it could be caused by excessive laughing, you know.

Lisa Beres 23:42

We're in trouble Ron that would not be good for you.

Kenneth Mendez 23:47

I mean, it's a baseline, you have to be diagnosed with asthma in the first place, and understand what your triggers are. But basically, there's a constriction of your airways or your muscles and they get tighter and it's more difficult to breathe. So there's inflammation in there, both in your airways and in your lungs. And that's what can make asthma challenging. If you've never had asthma before, just take a straw and try and breathe through a straw and take a deep breath through a straw. And that's what it's like to have asthma. Because that straw is an example of your airways are constricted, right, it's part of your respiratory system.

Lisa Beres 24:26

Oh, wow. Okay, so we talked about the symptoms of allergies. And it sounds like they're very close to asthma and allergy symptoms. Are there any other symptoms with asthma? Besides that, obviously breathing right, it's all lungs right with asthma?

Kenneth Mendez 24:41

The breathing and when you could see hollow chest, you're struggling in the chest, if you've got a child, you know, if they're having an asthma attack, those are shallow breathing. Those are the kinds of things that you look for if you're a caregiver, and you go check.

Lisa Beres 24:54

oh, gosh, wow. It's so interesting. It's something you don't really pay attention to probably until you have to write and Then for your asthma, you have to have your inhaler, right? If you're having an asthma attack, is there any other way to do that?

Kenneth Mendez 25:07

There's rescue medication through your inhaler. And then there's also a nebulizer which will deliver it in a mist form. And sometimes you do that for little kids because they can't really pull on an inhaler. Most kids can now because you're supposed to use your inhaler with a spacer, which is an air chamber and you use with the medication into the chamber there, and then you can breathe in there. So it has the same effect. Right?

Lisa Beres 25:35

Wow. It's literally life or death, I'm guessing to have that with you at all times, right? Especially if you know you're going to be in an area where you might have a trigger.

Kenneth Mendez 25:44

Absolutely, it's important to have it with you to make sure you know what your triggers are, you know, one of the most important things to do is have an asthma action plan that raises your awareness, you could download that on our website.

Lisa Beres 25:55

Okay.

Kenneth Mendez 25:57

Action Plan, it will show you what various stages there are, and when you should go to the hospital when you should take a rescue medication. And you can find that all on our website. But it's it's kind of the standard of care to have your asthma action plan. Lisa, you mentioned something you know, you don't know you don't think about it in these things until you actually have it. That's one of the things that we do. That's how we make our living at AAFA. Because once you're diagnosed with asthma or allergies, you know it's kind of a blur the doctor's office, we've all been there, when the doctor says you've got something and then you leave. And remember anything or you need a support network to our website, you go to our website aafa.org/join is completely free. We've got a moderated message board in there, where we have staff monitoring it, we haven't asked the allergist feature where you can ask questions we'll get back to you in like five days or so when the doctors available.

Lisa Beres 26:59

Oh, nice.

Kenneth Mendez 27:00

But it's a support network for people who have people and caregivers. Asthma and allergies. And that's one of the things that we do is a nonprofit.

Lisa Beres 27:09

That's fantastic. So if you're listening guys, and somebody's like, I can't get to the doctor, but I need quick answers they can go in and your doctors available what like once a week or certain?

Kenneth Mendez 27:19

Yeah, well, you could log your question in there, someone will take it, we'll get back to you in about five days or so.

Lisa Beres 27:25

Oh, that's great. Okay.

Kenneth Mendez 27:26

But if you're having a medical emergency,

Lisa Beres 27:28

Don't wait. Don't wait for the five days.

Ron Beres 27:31

Well, you mentioned earlier to that you said young girls sometimes grow out of asthma, right? You mentioned that earlier. Your puberty as an adult, if you had asthma, can you grow out of it when you hit your 60s or something is that ever happened where it gets better? Naturally,

Kenneth Mendez 27:44

You go back and forth. But actually you can have adult onset asthma. So you get to have a take what's most common is you probably had it as a kid. It's got way and then it comes back. That's probably more common. I don't have the statistics there. What we hear about I mean, there's been a lot of focus around childhood asthma, but you can outgrow it. And then it can come back later on.

Lisa Beres 28:12

And how do you feel about the hypoallergenic products? Even dogs? Like is that legit? I mean, if you are suffering from any of this, and you have a hypoallergenic dog, does that really make a difference?

Kenneth Mendez 28:24

No.

Lisa Beres 28:26

Sorry, guys, all of you with your poodles. I'm sorry.

Kenneth Mendez 28:29

Let me say a couple things. Here. There's no such thing. As a hypoallergenic cat or a dog, you're allergic to the saliva that gets on them in the dander. But there's no such thing as hypo allergenic dogs. So please keep that in mind your dogs that shed less you're allergic to the saliva that gets on their fur and then that gets dropped all around. This concept of hypoallergenic you know, one of the reasons why we started our certified asthma and allergy friendly program was because there was no standard out there. So we create standards that are scientifically tested. We have a medical Scientific Council that approves these standards that these products can do. So let me just give you an example a lot of air purifiers out there. There but some of them use ozone to help clean the air. When is actually an irritant and can be very dangerous for someone with asthma. Right. None of our air cleaners have any ozone there but there's some that are out there that do have that so right. The thing I mentioned about the washing machines and the temperature there's a reason why it's certified asthma and allergy friendly because it could get up to that temperature low.

Lisa Beres 29:54

So give us some products so the washer and dryers,..

Kenneth Mendez 29:58

Air purifiers, vacuum rooms, we've got flooring that's certified as allergy friendly. Okay, we've got actually a pollen screen standard, but we don't have anyone there yet. Who's applied for that standard.

Lisa Beres 30:14

So pollen screen for your windows?

Kenneth Mendez 30:17

Yeah, pollen screen. We didn't have those yet. We have a standard for it. But we don't have any companies that have qualified or have applied for that we develop that standard this year. Again, if you go to our website, alpha.org/certified, you can leave through there and find all the products that we have there. And, you know, sheets, mattress covers, as important.

Lisa Beres 30:41

Okay, yeah. And obviously, you want a HEPA filter and medical grade, which is a High Efficiency Particulate. Yeah. Resident air, I don't know.

Kenneth Mendez 30:50

You know, but if you go to a website and read a little bit more about that, I mean, there are a lot of things that are important about an air filter, not only the health aspect, but you know, the rating for the size of the room, that's really important. There's a term for that. Yeah. The cater? Yeah, yeah, there you go. Yeah, we've got that all on our website. And that's explained there in the standard. So that's really important. And you know, with respect to vacuum cleaners, one of the things that we look at with a vacuum cleaner is you can have a HEPA vacuum cleaner. But when you are disposing of the debris that you pick up.

Ron Beres 31:29

That's my job when I turn around, so thanks for the tip.

Kenneth Mendez 31:33

What is the protocol there? So we will look at a certified asthma and allergy friendly vacuum cleaner. With that in mind, that's what the standard is like, you can vacuum that stuff up. But when you get rid of it.

Lisa Beres 31:44

Know what so what do you do?

Kenneth Mendez 31:47

You throwing it in the air again.

Lisa Beres 31:49

So how do you avoid that? How do you avoid that spewing out when you put it in the bag?

Kenneth Mendez 31:55

Yeah, you'd have to look at our certified asthma and allergy friendly vacuum cleaners. In order to do that. I mean, we've got it on our website and take a look at that.

Lisa Beres 32:02

oh, you only have one, is there only one we have to kill? Okay. There's a way to dispose of the contents without breathing it in exactly.

Kenneth Mendez 32:13

The mechanism in the vacuum,

Lisa Beres 32:14

I let you know, it's something I always thought about Kenneth, because back in the day, when there was just bags, before they had the HEPA vacuum cleaners. I was like, well, those weren't good either. Because you know, all that everything was spewing out of the vacuum back into the room.

Kenneth Mendez 32:28

Really great thought, you know, that's one of the reasons why we started this program. Because I think it's really important to create some sort of standard out there. I mean, we're not the FDA, we're not saying we're a medical product, but only when you say something is asthma and allergy friendly. By a certification, there's a standard that you could look up on the website, it explains why that product is certified asthma and allergy friendly. It's kind of like, people say that stuff is organic, but there's no real definition for why. And, and we've tried to do this, we work with an organization called allergy standards, and they create the standards and coordinate the testing for that.

Lisa Beres 33:15

Mm hmm. That's excellent. And I would think fragrance to like fragrance, obviously, I mean, this is a whole another topic, certain things labeled fragrance free can actually have fragrance in it. But I mean even like when you're thinking of your cleaning products or candles, you know all these scented trash bags, everything scented nowadays, and just like in your laundry detergent, you know, and dryer sheets and all of this exposure to fragrance, how you can actually make a huge difference by just avoiding those synthetic chemicals that they usually use to make synthetic fragrances.

Ron Beres 33:48

Am I making a difference when I take out the chamber of the vacuum cleaner, the dust chamber, and I put it in my arm inside a plastic bag. It's how I do it and I close the top of the bag over my arm. And then I kind of like unlatch it dump it in there. And then as I pull it out, I know more dust is coming out. So I take it out of the trash bag very slowly and I tilt my head away from it. And then I close it up. Does that make a difference? I feel like it does or is that all psychological?

Kenneth Mendez 34:14

If you feel good about it Ron, that's the most important thing. But you mentioned something very interesting, because part of the testing process is we will have it allergy standards, we'll take it into a chamber and they'll test their vacuum like that. And they will monitor the amount of stuff that gets spewed out when you do a transfer like that. So those are the kinds of things that we think of when we're certifying something the asthma and allergy friendly.

Lisa Beres 34:47

Ron wear a mask. Wait we need a new vacuum I'm gonna go check out your vacuum we are in desperate need of I'm gonna look at the list after this. Well, this is awesome. Kenneth, is there anything that you would like to leave our listeners with before we wrap up.

Kenneth Mendez 35:01

No, I really appreciate you covering this. I mean, again, 90% of our time is spent indoors. So it's really important to manage your indoor air environment. Allergies can be a trigger for asthma, asthma kills over 3100 people each year. So it's really important to understand what your triggers are. Your doctor a specialist to understand what those triggers are in your indoor air environment, and then reduce your carbon footprint because climate change really is having an impact on a longer and more intense allergy season. And those allergens you also bring into your home.

Lisa Beres 35:02

Yeah, you bring them in on the bottom of your shoes and on your clothes and mold spores to all of that. So yeah, be prudent guys, take baby steps. Just take some of the things that we mentioned today, and you'll be on your way before you know it. Well. Thank you, Kenneth, for being with us today. You can learn more about the allergy and asthma Foundation of America at aafa.org and

Ron Beres 36:07

Thanks for being with us today, friends and as promised, head to ronandlisa.com/podcast to get the Healthier Home Checklist and the Asthma Friendly Home checklist. These are free to download thanks to the AAFA and Kenneth.

Lisa Beres 36:28

We'll have all the links that we talked about in the shownotes there. Join us in two weeks for another episode and get ready to uplevel your health.

Ron Beres 36:36

By everyone. Bye Kenneth thanks for coming by.

Kenneth Mendez 36:39

Thank you.

Lisa Beres 36:41

This episode of the Healthy Home hacks podcast has ended. But be sure to subscribe for more healthy living strategies and tactics to help you create the healthy home you always dreamed of. And don't forget to rate and review so we can continue to bring you the best content. See you on the next episode.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai