| HEALTH HAZARDS A Burning Issue By Cheryl Stuck It doesn’t matter which side of the fence you’re on, smoking is a habit that affects us all. Four local women got involved in the Smoke-Free Louisville campaign, hoping to stop public smoking. When Terri Holt first began having chronic sinus problems, frequent bronchitis, sore throat, and coughing, she didn’t attribute it to her job. Holt has been a bartender at the Hyatt Regency Louisville, for 15 years. She lived a healthy lifestyle, took vitamins, had a vegetarian diet, and never smoked. When her schedule changed from the morning to the night shift, the atmosphere was much smokier. She noticed that when groups of smokers came in, she would suffer migraine headaches and sometimes cough so much she would have to leave the room. Holt doesn’t know for sure if it was related to smoke, but she eventually developed an autoimmune illness, Sarcoidosis, and then, two years ago, breast cancer. She had a bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction. “The incisions around the reconstruction took forever to heal. According to the surgeon, the damage at the incision site was the kind of damage he only sees in smokers. My tissue turned black.” She had a second surgery, avoided smoky environments for three weeks, and the damage began to heal. In November, 2005, the Hyatt went completely smoke-free and Holt said her health problems have diminished considerably. “I used to hate going to work because of all the smoke — all of us [wait staff] did. Now, I love it. I feel healthy and happy, whereas before I felt sick in general all the time.” Holt acknowledges that while there is no proof that her problems were caused by the secondhand smoke, she is very pleased at the positive effects since the smoke-free policy was instituted. It took about five months for her to see a complete change. Coincidentally, in May, she went with a group of friends to a pub at Fourth Street Live and the next day woke up with a migraine that lasted a week. “I thought about it, wondering what I did that could have caused it, and it dawned on me that the table next to us was filled with smokers.” Menisa Marshall, communications director for the American Lung Association (ALA) of Kentucky, said the definition of secondhand smoke is “the smoke that comes from the end of someone else’s cigarette, cigar, or pipe, or the smoke that they exhale.” How secondhand smoke affects your health has been proven in studies. Marshall said that secondhand smoke has been estimated to result in at least 38,000 deaths annually in the United States and is a known cause of lung cancer, heart disease, chronic lung ailments, low birth-weight babies, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. “Lung cancer kills more women than breast, cervical, and colon cancer combined. There is a growing trend of lung cancer being seen among women, particularly among women who have never smoked. Secondhand smoke has been linked directly to nasal sinus cancer in nonsmokers and breast cancer in younger, primarily pre-menopausal women.” Local jazz singer, Lucy Bickett is one half of the Bickett-Davis Duo. She grew up on a tobacco farm in Western Kentucky where her family made its living from the product. After watching her uncle die of lung cancer, she became aware of the hazards of smoking. In addition, she suffers burning eyes, clogged sinuses, and a sore throat whenever she is in an area where people are smoking. One smoker, 15 feet away, can result in a change in her voice and lessen her ability to sing. Because of this sensitivity, she tries to choose non-smoking establishments in which to perform. In the Louisville Metro area, an estimated 152 deaths a year can be attributed to secondhand smoke. Courtney Otto’s mother was one of those victims. For months, Bonnie Jean Otto had a terrible cough that doctors first diagnosed as allergies and bronchitis. Her best friend was a nurse and encouraged her to have an x-ray, according to Courtney. After a barrage of tests, the doctors determined that it was non-small cell carcinoma, a type of cancer normally found in smokers. “They were shocked to hear that mom never smoked,” said Courtney. “However, her dad smoked like a chimney until his death and she worked for years as a journalist in tiny newsrooms surrounded by smoke from others’ cigarettes. The doctors all agreed that secondhand smoke was therefore the cause of her cancer.” Only seven months later, and two weeks before Courtney’s high school graduation and 18th birthday, Bonnie died. Ellen Nord suspects that her husband, Ken, was also a victim. He died of lung cancer at the age of 59, in February 2005. Ken had smoked as a teenager, but quit when he was 30. The couple was shocked when a doctor told him his cancer was due to an environmental problem. While they didn’t associate it at first, later they realized it must have been due to the heavy smoking by patrons of their business, Nord’s Brown Bag Deli and Pub on Preston Street. Immediately after Ken’s death, Ellen made the business smoke-free during the daytime, but still allows smoking in the evening. She worries that eliminating smoking completely would result in a hard hit to her business and livelihood. “I’m not against people smoking if that’s what they want to do,” she said, “but it’s short-term enjoyment with long-term effects and it’s not fair to those sitting next to them. I have a patio and they’re welcome to smoke out there.” Ellen Nord credits her husband for letting her pursue her dream and get her degree after 17 years of working in the deli with him. She works three days a week as a special needs teacher at St. Nicholas South, spending the other days at the deli. Her son, Michael, also owns a bakery and has been running both establishments since Ken’s death. She said, “Now, I can’t let his dream go because we worked so hard to build this business.” According to Marshall, “Smoky bars and casinos have been found to have up to 50 times more cancer-causing particles in the air than highways and city streets clogged with diesel trucks at rush hour.” Marshall said that in August, 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an advisory for those with a history of heart attack or heart disease “to avoid all buildings and gathering places that allow indoor smoking.” The agency said that as little as 30 minutes of exposure can have a serious lethal effect. While Holt, Bickett, Otto, and Nord are happy that smoking in public areas has been reduced, they would all welcome a total ban on public indoor smoking. Otto considers herself a huge advocate of smoke-free worksite legislation and has spoken in front of legislatures and committees in Louisville and New Hampshire, where she attends Dartmouth College. Cheryl Stuck is a regular contributer to Today’s Woman. |
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