Air-Quality Advocates Mobilizing Forces
When Marlene Torrison wakes up in the morning, she is never quite sure who she will see staring back at her in the bathroom mirror.
Will she see the energetic owner/ operator of two local TacoTime restaurants - a woman who was recently honored as Fast Food Restaurateur of the Year by the Spokane Restaurant and Hospitality Association?.
Or will she see a person victimized by a chronic disease called fibromyalgia, which causes shortness of breath, a weakened immune system and sore muscles and joints?. “Pain is just a way of life,” she says.
The single biggest factor affecting the 53-year-old woman’s health is the air’s pollution index on any given day. She says her lungs are so sensitive that “I can breath in and smell a diesel truck that’s three blocks away.”
Last fall Torrison completed a three-month leadership and development class sponsored by Landmark Education in Seattle. The final project for the course required that she design and implement an original community program. Naturally, Torrison developed something that she hoped would positively impact air quality in the Inland Northwest.
Torrison hooked up with Yvonne Bucklin, Spokane’s regional director for the American Lung Association of Washington. Together they connected with the Inland Northwest Clean Air Council, a network of government agencies, citizen groups, nonprofit organizations and health care professionals working to improve air quality. An Air of Excellence is an event resulting from their collaborative work.
The April 9 luncheon and clean air forum will honor individuals who have a made a difference in the fight for cleaner air. It also will provide an opportunity for them to gain support and education from one another. “This is the first event of its kind to bring together heretofore fragmented and separate efforts to improve air quality,” Bucklin says.
The keynote speaker at An Air of Excellence will be Barbara Charnes, executive director of Coloradans For Clean Air. During the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, that organization led an effort to dispose of Denver’s “brown cloud.”
Like Denver, communities in the Inland Northwest face the challenge of alleviating air pollutants that are trapped close to the ground by nearby mountains.
Bucklin, Torrison and an advisory committee for An Air of Excellence, solicited numerous in-kind contributions for the event. However, they still need catering assistance and financial support.
If you can help, would like to attend An Air of Excellence or would like information about the services offered by the American Lung Association of Washington, call 325-6516.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MEMO: If you have a community Discovery that deserves recognition, call the Spokane County Health Improvement Partnership at 482-2557, or Elana Ashanti Jefferson at 459-5419.