Some of the highlights…
The first person I met was someone who is going to be speaking on the conservation of art and paper. I can't wait to hear more about it. They are using light and lasers… seems quite advanced and expensive and certainly not mainstream yet.
I met Dr. Shoemaker outside of the reception… he was very interested in how my son and I got well and we chatted about the things that helped us. He asked if we had done his testing… which we had done for my son. He asked if I had the test results with me… and no, I don't. My son is well now… I don't carry his paperwork with me anymore. When he was sick, that paperwork would have been with me because getting him well would have been my focus! Of course, I would not have been able to come here if he was still sick because he needed constant care back then!
One of the first people I talked with inside the reception area was a woman from Tampa, Florida who “helps the insurance agencies determine if a claim should be covered.” She was absolutely surprised that people get as sick as my son and I did from mold. People like this definitely need to be educated in how mold effects people.
She was traveling with a group and one of them was an “Industrial Hygienist.” An Industrial Hygienist examines buildings to see what caused the mold and how to get rid of it.
I wound up talking most of the night with Joyce Cash, her mother and partner Marcia Cash and joining us toward the end of the night, Marcia's husband Greg Weatherman and Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker. Greg Weatherman has a chapter in Dr. Shoemaker's book, “Surviving Mold.”
Joyce, Marcia and Greg Weatherman are working closely with Dr. Shoemaker on cleaning the air in buildings that have been remediated but still are not good enough for sensitive people to live in. They have a product called Aerosolver that is fogged into the air to bring down any particles that are left in the air. It seems promising.
When I got home from the conference, I started typing aerosolver into my browser and I saw that I had been to their site in September of 2011. At that time, I was living in a motel room, unsure of whether our home would ever be clean enough to live in. I was researching all kinds of products. Aerosolver was one of many that I did not try. I am looking forward to hearing Greg's presentation on it today.
At the end of the night, as I was trying to leave… I stopped to talk to a woman named Alice who is an Industrial Hygeniest from Mount Sinai, NY. I am glad I did… and I intend to catch up with Alice again. She is working for an EPA funded program that is overseen by the New York Department of health. (see my blog on how little the NY Department of Health helped me)
Today is a full day, with lots of presentations, lots of info, and lots of great people to meet and talk with. Again, if you have any questions, please comment here and I will try to get your questions answered by some of the experts I meet here. If it is something that just can't wait, contact me through a PM on facebook… I will try to check those on a break.
Here is an updated list of the speakers: Program – up-date as of 12 March 2013!
Heather, so glad you are attending this conference and meeting so many of the professionals in this issue in person. Keep us posted!
Heather, the more I speak up the more I realize there is just a huge void. People simply chaulk it up to insanity. Attempting to do that more is causing me more stress and more negativity. I find it odd that the folks at the convention are unaware of how ill we are. I’m just frustrated but hope you find some useful information to make a dent in it!