We try our best to keep pollutants out of our home, but when we read about Kathy Hemenway's "safe house" in Snowflake, Ariz. we realized how much farther some people need to go to keep their homes healthy.
A Safe House in Snowflake, Arizona
LA Times 2.27.2009
Hemenway suffers from what is referred to as "environmental illness" — she is especially sensitive to air pollutants, perfumes, gases, and chemicals. Because of the illness, she moved from her home in the Bay Area to Snowflake, Ariz where she was able to build her own "safe house."
The new house has no paint on the walls, no carpet on the floors, no plywood, no particle board, no tar-paper, and no pesticides. It also has radiant in-floor heating and a mostly steel frame.
Read more about Hemenway's illness and her home in Snowflake here.
Image: Randy Reid / For The Times
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I sympathize with Hemenway. My allergic reactions are much less than hers, but shopping is always a challenge, and going to church takes courage (the weekly Sunday headache from all the scents and flowers in the church). I have a cabinet full of cleaning supplies that I can't use, and my bathroom cabinet is full of personal products that I can't use, because they are so heavily scented.
Daily nasal lavage with a neti-pot has helped me enormously. It keeps the pollutants washed out and lets my nose work like it's supposed to.
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