SALT LAKE CITY — Former Utahns Heidi Belka and her son Freddy, who suffers from asthma, moved to Hawaii over the summer.
And it’s all because they were fed up with Utah’s air quality.
“I really didn’t anticipate that it would be such a drastic difference, but it is,” said Belka, who moved in July.
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Since then, she and her 8-year-old son have been breathing with ease. They haven’t had to use medications while living in Hawaii.
“We slowly weaned ourselves off our inhalers when we moved,” Belka said. “After about two weeks, we were without any medicines, and we just haven’t needed them since other than when we visit.”
For kids still growing up with the inversion, the Utah Department of Health and Human Services said that once the air quality index reaches 100, students with respiratory symptoms and sensitive students should stay indoors. When it rises above 150, all students should stay inside.
Belka and her son visit Utah often to see friends and family. When they do, they need to pull out their medicines once again.
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“We both have been experiencing asthma since we arrived, almost from the moment we walked off the plane,” Belka explained Monday.
Belka said she and her son were tired of the sleepless nights, always missing school, and all the trips to the hospital because of Utah’s air quality.
“My pictures pop up in Google Photos and I’m reminded of, ‘Oh look, there’s my son and his inhaler and there’s my son with the mask on his face with his nebulizer to try to breathe.' All those sleepless nights, the bags under his eyes,” she said. “It’s just heart-wrenching.”
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Her son, a former student at Washington Elementary, couldn’t always play at recess with the rest of the kids.
“I would have to meet him at the school to administer his inhaler at break time and just go sit with him because all of his friends were going out to play and he couldn’t,” Belka said.
The two were sad to leave their life in Utah behind, but it was time for them to seek out better air.
“It’s just a piece of mind for us and it also means our freedom,” Belka said.
