Hagerstown, Maryland Is More Than Racist Drunks

There is a certain distasteful presence in the Hagerstown air; I've never known it otherwise. When I was younger, asthma made any air my potential Gargamel. Year in year out a sad wide crease was worn into the living room couch as I ate entire bags of chips in a single setting to give a flavor to the fantasy world formulated by my most ungirly after school TV habits (G.I. Joe, Transformers, Thundercats, He-Man), unable to join my peers as they lived boisterously in the yards and playgrounds that surrounded the west side.

Older, I am more concerned with healthy eating and nowhere near as dependent on the television for escape as I once was. Asthma, while not the persistent foe it once was, is still a pest to my system. For awhile now, I've been unable to tell whether the atmosphere in Hagerstown is genuinely contaminated or if my hypersensitivity to the derelicts, drug addicts and sufferers of mental dysentery I pass on my way to and from work, west side to downtown and back again.

Well, I have been hipped to confirmation: Hagerstown ranks 24th in the nation on the list of Most Polluted American Cities (particles). The American Lung Association explains particles as," a combination of fine solids and aerosols that are suspended in the air we breathe" and particle pollution as presenting the following risks:

death from respiratory and cardiovascular causes, including strokes

increased numbers of heart attacks, especially among the elderly and in people with heart conditions

inflammation of lung tissue in young, healthy adults

increased hospitalization for cardiovascular disease, including strokes

increased emergency room visits for patients suffering from acute respiratory ailments

increased hospitalization for asthma among children

increased severity of asthma attacks in children.

I wonder about myself in this city sometimes.


Hagerstown particle pollution