May Is Asthma & Allergy Awareness Month

In recognition of National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month, we’d like to provide you with information that may be helpful for you and your family. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, an asthma attack can occur when you are exposed to asthma triggers. Know your triggers and learn how to avoid them. Some of the most common triggers are mold, pests such as cockroaches, allergens, tobacco smoke, dust mites, outdoor air pollution, pets, smoke from burning wood or grass, and infections like the flu.

NYCHA’s Environmental Health and Safety Department’s Indoor Air Quality and Integrated Pest Management Oversight Teams understand the importance of identifying and eliminating any hazards that might be harmful to a person’s health. Each team consists of up to five Specialists and is led by an Administrator. Team Specialists and Administrators hold degrees and/or certifications in their respective fields and have decades of professional experience.

The Indoor Air Quality Oversight Team works to improve indoor air quality for NYCHA residents and employees by identifying hazards that contribute to poor air quality and recommending actions to abate and prevent recurrence. As part of this work, the Team inspects mold remediation jobs to ensure that work is completed in accordance with regulations and NYCHA’s standard procedures.

According to Yelena Tkach, the Indoor Air Quality Administrator: “Our team empathizes with residents and staff and wants to ensure their home and work environments are healthy and safe. We try to put ourselves in their shoes when working to identify and abate the hazards in their homes.”

The Integrated Pest Management Oversight Team oversees pest control work to ensure that best practices and standard procedures are being applied. The Team’s Administrator, Tyrone Gordils, noted: “The best way to control pest issues is for residents and staff to work together by taking measures to exclude pests from entering indoor spaces and by eliminating all food and water sources that pests rely on to live.”

In addition to assessing health hazards, both teams will recommend ways to eliminate the conditions that can lead to asthma and allergy symptoms, promoting a healthy environment at NYCHA.

Residents, employees, and any member of the public can visit the following website to submit environmental health and safety concerns that these teams will investigate: https://on.nyc.gov/submit-concern.

For more information about asthma, please visit these links:

https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/asthma.page

https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/asthma/asthma-triggers-fact-sheet.pdf