Southern Oregon Air Quality: Introducing Rogue Valley Breathe Easy
Here in Southern Oregon, air quality is a common topic of conversation. During the summer, we are plagued by smoke from wildfires. Since smoke is able to travel so far, it doesn’t matter if the fire is in Northern California, Western Oregon, or somewhere else in the nation. The Rogue Valley’s inversion layer traps the smoke in and we all breathe it in.
During the winter, we often think the air is cleaner, but the wood smoke from fireplaces impacts our air quality. Wood heat is a common heating source for Southern Oregonians, so this will continue to be a problem.
In the summer, Southern Oregon AQI can peak over 400 In the winter, that number changes averages around 20.
We here at Lighthouse Worldwide Solutions are proud to call Southern Oregon home, which is why we’ve decided to do something about it. This year, we’ve launched our Rogue Valley Breathe Easy program to help local businesses improve their air quality!
Introducing Rogue Valley Breathe Easy
In our Rogue Valley Breathe Easy program, we have provided cleanroom grade air purifiers to local businesses. We have designed these air purifiers to clean their air so they can improve employee health and provide a better customer experience.
Meet The Businesses!
We are proud to work with a number of local Southern Oregon businesses! When we chose the businesses, we were looking for ones that had high contact areas with a lot of foot traffic that could expose employees and customers to poor air quality.
We are proud to be working with:
Our Goals
We delivered the cleanroom grade air purifiers to the businesses on August 19, 2021. At the time, the air quality in Southern Oregon was considered unhealthy, with an AQI score between 151-200 ( 55.5-150.4 2.5 um/m3).
We will pick up the air purifiers on November 30, 2021 to see how the business’s indoor air quality has changed and been protected from the outside air quality!
With improving the indoor air quality, we are also aiming to…
- Improve employee health and wellbeing.
- Raise employee morale.
- Improve the client experience.
- Educate the area on indoor air quality.
We are excited to conduct this experiment, help local businesses, and publish results as we go to see how these businesses’ air quality has improved!
How To Improve Your Indoor Air Quality
Indoor air quality is incredibly important because of the impact it can have on our health. Poor indoor air quality can lead to eyes, nose, and throat irritation. Beyond that, it can cause headaches, dizziness, and fatigue. On a more serious note, with prolonged exposure to poor indoor air quality, it can cause respiratory disease, heart disease, and cancer.
When Southern Oregon’s air quality suffers, our indoor air quality suffers, too. Not nearly enough homes use a quality air filter to make sure they are protecting the air inside their homes.
To avoid adverse health effects and improve your home’s indoor air quality, you can…
- Invest in a quality air filter. This means that it needs to not just filter out large particles, like pollen, but much smaller ones, too. While your HVAC system probably does have an air filter in it, we recommend evaluating your indoor air quality to see if you need additional support. Many homes utilize a second air filter to help support their home further.
- Keep windows and doors closed when the air quality is clearly poor. In the morning, it’s common practice to open up a house to let in the cool, morning air. Before you do so, check online to see what your local AQI score is. If the AQI score is greater than 100, consider leaving the doors and windows shut to limit particles you let in. You can check your town’s current local AQI score on the AirNow state AQI tool. Remember, smoke is not the only pollutant! If there is a lot of pollen in the air, it’s best to leave windows and doors shut, too.
- Make sure you are using proper ventilation when burning materials. If you heat your home with wood heat or use natural gas, this can introduce pollutants into your house, too. Ensure that the ventilation around your stove, furnace, etc. is working properly to keep your indoor air quality good.
These are just a few quick tips on how to improve your overall indoor air quality in your home. But if you want to learn more or find some of the best indoor air filters, check out Filtr. This is a local company dedicated to making Southern Oregon’s air clean!
