Health Advisory, Spare the Air Alert

Our thoughts continue to be with the many people directly affected by the devastating wildfires in California. The Bay Area continues to see wildfire smoke. Stanford Health Care and Stanford Medicine Children's Health Engineering and Maintenance staff are minimizing outdoor air and assessing ventilation.

All members of the community are encouraged to take precautions for their personal health and comfort.

In this KQED Forum segment, special guest Sharon Chinthrajah, MD, discusses what to do when the air is polluted and how to understand the air quality index.

If you are inside our patient care facilities, the air is filtered and there is no need for masking.
 
Symptoms such as itchy eyes, dry mouth, sore throat, and headache should be expected with these air quality conditions. If you are experiencing symptoms beyond these, please consult with your primary care physician or follow your normal emergency procedures. To help minimize the effects, please limit your outside activities, limit exertion and stay hydrated.

We appreciate everyone’s efforts and cooperation ensuring the safety of our patients, families and staff.

Keeping Kids Healthy When Air Quality is Poor

1. Know the air quality levels. Check the air quality in your area on the BAAQMD Current Air Quality page.

a. Green: safe for all kids to spend time outside running and playing.
b. Yellow: kids with asthma or other lung conditions should limit their exposure to outside air. If outside, children with asthma should have their rescue medications (albuterol) readily available.
c. Orange and Higher: all kids should limit their exposure, and kids with asthma should follow their action plans and have their rescue medication handy, plus wear a mask outside to help filter out any unsafe particles in the air.

2. Improve indoor air. Close windows and prevent outside air from circulating in your car. If your child has asthma or another lung condition, consider getting a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter. If you are using air conditioners, they should also have a HEPA filter. Keep your windows closed at night.

3. For the parents of athletes, while many practices and sporting events are being canceled, here are some important notes from our Stanford Medicine Children’s Health Sports Medicine experts:

• Athletes can breathe in 10-20x more air than a sedentary person during a given period of time, which means more exposure to smoky or polluted air.
• Given the current conditions throughout much of the Bay Area, where many communities even far from the North Bay can smell the smoke and see haze, our recommendation is to minimize outdoor activity. A couple days off is often better than training in poor conditions.