Author Archives: Heather Plude

Re-Shelter -housing for mold injured and MCS

On Reshelter’s website, their tagline is: “transforming the homes, health & lives of people with environmental intolerances” There is a ton of good information on the Re|Shelter facebook group as well as their website.

The Safe Oasis Grant program awarded $13,500 to 7 applicants in 2012. I knew a few of those people and this money really helped them to get back on their feet!

Wouldn’t it be great if even more people could be awarded grants to help with safe housing.

Environmentally injured homelessness is a silent epidemic.
Not by choice… by necessity.

My family and myself were made ill by toxic mold in our home and we had to live between motel rooms and tents for over 10 months while we searched for safe housing.

Being homeless is one step above living in mold. I felt like our choice was between homelessness and death. We chose to be homeless with two adults, two kids and a dog. It wasn’t the easiest thing to do. At times, it was Really difficult.

A fundraiser was the reason we took the leap and left. If it were not for the fundraiser that was done for my family, we may have never seen a way to get out of that house.

It literally saved our lives.

Before we moved out, my son was eleven years old and sick every day… and only getting worse for the past 9 months. Four days after we got out, he started to improve.

My whole family was sick to some extent… and it was more obvious when we got out of the house how sick we really were. Some of the symptoms were: hair falling out, thyroid problems, liver problems, pain all over, dyslexia, asthma, allergies, nosebleeds, seizures, weakness, disabling fatigue, rashes, fungal nails, alzheimer-like behavior and symptoms of a heart attack.

This may seem dramatic to someone who has not watched their family become ill from toxic mold. If you have lived through this, you may understand. If you have made it to the other side and you are not safe and living with some level of comfort, perhaps you could spare $5 a month or more to give toward those less fortunate.

donate-run

Need Money? Too sick to work?

When you are sick, getting a job is the last thing you can do. Some days it is too much to take a shower and feed yourself. But if you are too sick to work, buying toiletries and food can become next to impossible.

Share Your Mold Story

Who hears the voice of the sick?

Sick people are trapped in their homes, barely able to make it to the bathroom, writhing in pain, starving for food, attention, money and companionship. These mold injured people are too sick to work.
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Mold keeps woman confined to her tent

I have said it before and I’ll say it again… being homeless is one step above living in mold. So here is a story of a woman who is confined to her tent because of mold. I say this is far more common than most people would think.

My family was homeless for 10 months because of mold. We lived between motel rooms and tents. Whatever we kept from the moldy house was put in storage.

Somebody who is not aware of the damage mold can do to a family may be thinking.  Everyone has mold.  It’s silly to run from a little mold.  Who would abandon their home because of mold.  Just clean it up. Clean it up with a bleach and paint it with Kilz.

Bleach and Kilz Do Not Get Rid of Mold

They mask the problem… and make it worse.
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Health District Building Killing People

Death by Mold and Indifference — The Dan Pauluk Case

An excerpt from the story:

“It’s much too late,” said Dr. Wendy Pauluk, the wife of a former employee. She says a ceiling tile above her husband’s desk raised his suspicions. She alleges tests showed it had toxic black mold.

“It settles in the jaw and in the teeth and the lungs and then it goes to stomach and any area of weakness — over time — will develop into cancer,” she said.

Her husband died in 2007. Pauluk says 14 other people within a 50-foot radius of Dan’s desk have died too.  She alleges mold spores from his clothes and shoes were brought into the Pauluk family home and have also infected her. Wendy’s lungs are full of tumors and she is currently undergoing life-saving treatment in Mexico.

“I am one person among many,” she said.
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