Strike A Chord: Breathing in the South Bronx
Briathny Merejo lives in the South Bronx. She’s in 6th grade and has severe asthma. She says sometimes when she walks down the street, or plays in the park, car fumes make it very hard for her to breathe.
“Having asthma is very hard because out of nowhere you could just stop breathing, and then you’re going to have to take like 15 medications to calm down.”
Dr. Peter Sherman is a pediatrician at Bronx Lebanon Hospital. He says too many kids are missing school, and parents are missing work, because of childhood asthma. He says it's not only the car exhaust that causes asthma in the Bronx, it's poor housing conditions.
“We’re families that are living with a lot of obvious cockroaches, rats, but mold, a lot of water damages. There are old buildings, pipes leak. And mold is just deadly for asthma.”
Dr. Sherman says prevention is the best way to combat asthma, but he says too many families lack access to proper healthcare and wait too long to seek treatment.
