Dear Editor,
There really needs to be some serious education about asthma, its triggers, and the fact that it does not always take a “giant cloud” of smoke to do the job.
Just a little bit will usually do it for me.
There are too many students, faculty, staff, whatever the position, who think that the rights of smokers should prevail no matter the consequences to those who have legitimate lung illnesses.
Even in open air enough smoke lingers to cause problems for someone who has a lung illness, such as asthma.
Rules about not smoking near doorways are regularly ignored and not enforced period, so how in the world do we expect that rules about a smoking area are going to be obeyed.
I hope that a ban will be enforced properly because the current rules aren’t.
Maybe, just maybe, soon I can walk across campus and through the doors at Sam Wilson Hall without my asthma being triggered off at least once a day.
How do I keep from having to go to the emergency room, you wonder?
I carry a dust mask, my inhaler and my portable nebulizer, and I use them when necessary.
When smoking is banned, maybe then we can start educating everyone about the effects some of the perfumes, aftershaves, and colognes the folks on campus wear have on some of us.
I’m not afraid to speak up on this issue.
I can’t be.
It’s a matter of life and breath.
This morning my asthma was triggered by a professor’s aftershave or cologne.
I was quite winded and wheezy for about 10 minutes even after using the inhaler.
– Cynthia Canter

Author