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Poisoned by toxic molds at two San Diego Unified School District schools, Susan Brinchman, Director and Founder of The Center for School Mold Help, tells her story.
I am a teacher whose life and career has been permanently impacted by toxic mold in two public schools where I worked. Starting in 1999, when I began working at Sherman Elementary School in San Diego, I began feeling ill, with a myriad of health ailments that ultimately evolved into permanent damage and inflammation in my lungs, brain, nervous and immune systems. Sherman, a damp and filthy school operated by San Diego Unified School District, has since been evaluated by the local health department and found to be excessively full of moisture and filth. Sherman Elementary, only a thirty year old school, has now been completely torn down, in the fall of 2006, following 16 years of complaints by ill staff (numbering at least 55 by my count).
Sherman Elementary School as it appeared in 2005, shortly before being torn down
Below, the same site, in Jan. 2006, following the demolition of the 30 year old "sick school". It can no longer harm anyone else!
Click below for more Sherman photos of water-damage, moisture, broken condensate lines, pooling water on roof by air intake, filthy old filters, mold-like substance inside HVAC, etc. taken on roof and inside building, just prior to SDSUD board's demolition decision.
Sherman 2004 photos part 1
I am part of the collateral damage of this sick building. I have what is sometimes called "Sick Building Syndrome". It was a terrible experience to suffer the symptoms of this illness, not knowing that 2/3 of the staff had complained of the same problems. It was terrible to go to physicians who were either completely ignorant of this illness, frightened of it, or unwilling to figure it out. I learned that many American doctors fear their licenses will come under question if they dare admit that mold harms health - something that has been understood for thousands of years and is even mentioned in the Bible.
When I discovered, after nearly three years in this dangerous, toxic school, that many on the staff were similarly ill, I left within months. Within two years, I was, once again, in a school with mold - Hawthorne Elementary, documented by an outside inspector. This school, also run by San Diego Unified School district, was full of large black roaches that teamed out of my bookcases and the flooring (indicating a water source nearby). It had an ancient dishwasher that overflowed on occasion and was on the other side of the back wall of my room. Filthy slime was nearby, in an outside drain where they washed the lunch trays and left the contents to fester in the sun, outside on the other side of my room - this traveled on the wind into the open door to the school kitchen. The guidance office, which sent me to the Emergency Room with breathing problems, tested positive for an overgrowth of aspergillus/penicillium molds. San Diego Unified Schools deferred maintenance on many of its old and newer buildings, for years, allowing dangerous, toxic conditions to develop. I was then moved to an ancient, musty portable room, compounding the problem. My breathing and brain functioning was going downhill, till finally, three months later, it became impossible to work.
I suffered several years of severe symptoms, related to systemic inflammation, including multiple chemical sensitivities that are related to the mold exposure, that gradually have improved, with complete avoidance of buildings with water damage and molds, and my own protocols that I developed by researching on the internet and speaking with other mold victims, scientists and physicians with expertise in this area. My health remains fragile and I must, like other Sick Building Syndrome victims, be careful about the buildings I go into, which has changed my life entirely. I develop breathing problems easily. My lungs are operating at 30-50% of the expected levels. My mucous membranes are damaged and thus, upper and lower respiratory problems have resulted. I have high levels of inflammation in multiple organ systems. I must have fresh air and tile floors, specially adapted living quarters. I am disabled now, from teaching and most other occupations, due to my lung problems and need to be in a clean, non-moldy, chemical-free, healthy environment with fresh air. San Diego Unified has consistently admitted that they have no such healthy environments, thus denying my request for accommodations, which is seen, nationally, more often than not.
Once I was disabled and home, I researched this health problem and its causes. After discussing Sick Building Syndrome (and other associated illnesses, as well) with researchers and physicians interested in this area, became readily apparent that this was (and is) a national health crisis, with damp schools and other buildings causing silent epidemics of respiratory, neurological, and immune disorders. Further, the best information about dampness, mold, health, and schools was scattered all over the Internet, not archived in any particular area. The Center for School Mold Help was established in order to provide this archive and educate the public, for the purpose of assisting local groups with their school mold concerns, and ultimately, ending the problem of toxic molds in our schools and buildings, through awareness and activism.
I recommend studying this website in its entirety and learning more about mold poisoning through sites like www.biotoxin.info and www.moldwarriors.com.
School mold is a very prevalent and serious problem in American schools. As a victim of damp buildings and mold exposures, something I knew nothing about before, I am very concerned about the welfare of the teachers and students in our public and private schools, whose health is at grave risk. You can join me in supporting our educational outreach by visiting our Donation page, helping to maintain this website and our outreach, with a small donation, receiving a free Subscription to the entire site.
Don't remain in buildings where there are dirty heating and air conditioning systems, leaks, and high levels of moisture! Sick Building Syndrome can steal your health and your future. My life will never be the same again, because of San Diego Unified School District's mismanagement of their buildings and ignorance about the impact of indoor dampness.
Parents, please, protect your children's health! Teachers, beware! Inspect your local schools and insist on good building maintenance or repair. Leave if the building is musty or damp, and don't return. Once again, I hope you will visit our website: http://www.schoolmoldhelp.org/. We also have a discussion forum at Speak Out where you may express your views.
Susan Brinchman
Director, Center for School Mold Help
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