TRANSCRIPT
ROSALEE LOPEZ: Let me open it and try to wake him up. Wake up! Wake up!
REPORTER: This is Rosalee Lopez. She’s 6-years-old, with curly brown hair that’s tied back by a pink bow. She’s giving me a tour of her apartment in downtown San Francisco. And she starts by introducing me to her hamster – Paco.
LOPEZ: Wake up! Come on, wake up! Do not run away, I’m trying to pet you. Hey, come here – stop.
REPORTER: After I meet Paco, Rosalee takes me to her room, where colorful string lights hang across the walls and stuffed animals crowd the shelves above her bed.
LOPEZ: I have these. Look, come here.
REPORTER: She shows me her Legos…
LOPEZ: I don't have wheels like this. But I do have wheels for this, but not for this one.
REPORTER: And then, she pulls out a small box from under her desk.
LOPEZ: You want to see what’s in my mystery box? Alright, fine.
REPORTER: She calls it her “mystery box,” because you need a key to open it.
LOPEZ: Look…look…
REPORTER: It’s where she keeps her important things.
LOPEZ: Play-Doh. And my inhaler.
REPORTER: Her emergency inhaler. That’s because Rosalee has asthma. Her mom, Sharon, said she first noticed something was wrong when Rosalee started walking.
LOPEZ: She will start coughing and when she would get, like, easily tired when she was running. So I knew something was going on, but I wasn't sure what it was.
REPORTER: Two years ago, Rosalee woke up in the middle of the night. She couldn’t stop coughing.
LOPEZ: And then my mom, she gave me water, right? And then when she put my inhaler on, I couldn't breathe, so she called 911.
REPORTER: At the hospital, Rosalee’s doctors prescribed a daily inhaler in addition to her emergency one. But they also said – making changes at home was part of her treatment.
LOPEZ: The first thing that arrived was an air purifier.
REPORTER: It was delivered to Rosalee and Sharon through the air district’s… “Home Air Filtration Program” – a $700,000 effort to bring cleaner air to low-income people. The program was funded through the air district’s general fund in 2021. It was a response to the growing number of terrible wildfires.
ANNE KELSEY LAMB: As a mother, I was very concerned about the health of my children.
REPORTER: That’s Anne Kelsey Lamb, director of Regional Asthma Management and Prevention.
LAMB: And as the director of an asthma program, it made me think about all of the mothers of children with asthma, and how truly terrifying these wildfire smoke events must be.
REPORTER: So she was thrilled when the air district approached her organization to help distribute air purifiers. Now, Anne coordinates between the air district and on-the-ground organizations who get the air purifiers into people’s homes.
LAMB: We do see and hear a lot about the immediate health impacts on people with asthma.
REPORTER: Anne – and other public health experts – say that the long-term health impacts of exposure to wildfire smoke – haven’t been thoroughly studied.
LAMB: The scientific research continues to evolve and what other types of health impacts there are in addition to respiratory impacts.
REPORTER: Anne says – what early research does show – is that it’s crucial to try to reduce exposure to smoke.
LAMB: But that can be harder for low-income families who, maybe live in substandard rental housing where the smoke really comes inside because there’s leaky windows or doors.
REPORTER: But air purifiers have proven to be effective at reducing particulate matter.
LAMB: So the air that the people inside the home are breathing is cleaner.
REPORTER: Plus – purifiers are a relatively inexpensive way to combat a problem with limited solutions. Anne says – the Bay Area’s program can serve as a model for others to follow. And it has – air districts across the state – including Santa Barbara and the Mojave Desert – were inspired to create their own pilot programs. And as wildfires have spread across the country…
LAMB: I received calls from asthma programs in those states saying, ‘What are we supposed to do to help our families with asthma during these times? We've never had to deal with this.’ And we had a lot of information to share with them.
LOPEZ: Is it this thing? Come on, come here.
REPORTER: After putting away her mystery box, Rosalee takes me to the room at the end of the hallway – where she sleeps next to her mom every night.
LOPEZ: Is it this thing?
REPORTER: The air purifier – about the size of a carton of milk – sits on top of a small black table in the corner of the room. A blue light glows at the top.
LOPEZ: It looks almost like a tube. And there's white on top and there's letters.
REPORTER: They keep it running 24/7. Sharon tells me – with this air purifier from the program, a new vacuum and medications – Rosalee’s asthma has improved. She used to miss a lot of school – but now, she’s able to do all of her daily activities.
LOPEZ: You probably don't think it's going to work and it's not doing what it's supposed to do, but it definitely does its work. You can feel it. You can tell.
REPORTER: Roselee tugs at her mom’s shirt, exasperated.
LOPEZ: We’re kind of talking too much.
REPORTER: So Rosalee and Sharon show me just how effective the air purifier is…
LOPEZ: Let me just spray some perfume and it will definitely turn on by itself. Or just or just somewhere around here.
ROSALEE LOPEZ: It smells so good.
REPORTER: After a minute…
[[SOUND OF AIR PURIFIER]]
LOPEZ: Oh my god!
REPORTER: Rosalee says it’s effective in another way…
LOPEZ: …in case if someone farts, it just takes it out. It just glows red when someone farts. Like my mom, sometimes. Or my grandma. Me too. I get it – sometimes I have a stinky. A stinky one, alright?
REPORTER: Since it started in 2021, the “Home Air Filtration Program” has distributed close to 3,000 air purifiers to low income people in the Bay Area. That includes about 900 kids with asthma. It’s a start. But there are roughly 27,000 low-income kids living with asthma in the Bay Area and funding is running out. The air district says – they’re looking into ways to secure more money – which could come from state agencies, private funders, the federal government, or their own reserves – so the program can live on… and serve more residents like Rosalee.