Asthma Support Group

Katiebug-

I don't know where you live, but I actually live in the NYC area, am a former reporter, and a news freak. I would take what this this guy has to say with a large grain of salt. I have NEVER heard, or seen footage of, inhalers being scalped on the street "more valuable than heroin." This is nonesense. If this was actually a real problem, it would on the front page of papers, on news home sites, and on the 11 o'clock news.

The truth is there are DOZENS, if not hundreds, of absolutely FREE asthma programs and fully staffed and well-stocked and supplied CLINICS, most of which are supported with your TAX DOLLARS, and others of which are run by hospitals working of trailers which go from site to site, including schools, housing projects and senior centers, also providing monitoring and medications.

Yes, the environment is a toxic stew with exttra-crunchy air and water. Yes, due to this there is an extremely high asthma rate. Yes, city hospitals can be danagerous places with filthy bathrooms. But no, this area is not lacking in FREE programs, a lot of which are helping non-citizens and causing hospitals to collapse and close, which is another issue in this area, including my hometown.

You could write to Doug and invite this guy to post on site in the same manner as doctors, who are supposedly monitoring this site, now write blogs. However, I believe this would just be spreading damaging misinformation and misplaced sympathy, not to mention potential resources, for an area that is already well-addressed on a daily basis.

Orsonwelz, I see your point of view. This book is a New York Times Bestseller, and has been reviewed by some of the top book critics so I think that you should read the book before you judge the information. I am pretty sure that you don't live in the areas the author is describing, and the hospital they talk about in the book is Lincoln Hosptial. The fact of the matter is that many people are dying of asthma in the Bronx and maybe if we just donated that old neb machine (when our insurance will buy a new one for us anyway) then we can make a difference in someone else's lives. This book is required reading for our college literature class, so I am pretty sure that there is not a whole lot of "misinformation" in it.

In 1995 Kozol produced a powerful study, this time based on first-hand experience among schoolchildren in the South Bronx, "Amazing Grace". He has since written another book and and re-visited the S. Bronx area. We must keep in mind that he is referring to a comparatively small area over 13 years ago.

I dont know much about the aera but I know over here there are areas whihc would benifit from people donateing their old nebs to help others. We may not need it but it may be life changhing for someone else.

i think judgment should be made once the book is read and then an opinion can be formed. I am going to try and get a hold of a copy so i can read it myself and see whats happening.

olive

Again, I repeat, having lived in the NYC area my whole life, being a former local reporter and a news freak, what this guy claims is NOT currently true (and to my knowledge wasn't so even 13 years ago) and being a NYTimes bestseller doesn't make this so either.

Inhalers are NOT being scalped on the street "more valuable than heroin." There is, however, plenty of heroin, crystal meth, ectasy, and other street drugs and the problems these attract. What is also TRUE is that there are DOZENS, if not hundreds, of absolutely FREE asthma programs, as well as fully staffed and well-stocked and supplied CLINICS, most of which are supported with your TAX DOLLARS, and others which are run by hospitals working out of trailers which go from site to site, including schools, housing projects and senior centers, also providing FREE monitoring, medications (and frequently nebulizers) to anyone who asks. These are FREE programs readily available and open to all.

Yes, people die of asthma in Bronx, just as they elsewhere, on a daily basis. The majority of these deaths, however, are not necessarily due to a lack of help, but other factors including lifestyle, comordity, genetics, etc.

You and others are of course welcome to send your used nebulizers to these already pre-existing programs already supplying new ones and much, much more - but this will be a redundant use of resources best sent elsewhere to those that really need them.

Great book!