Family Sick From Mold-Infested Home

[Guest guest]

Posted: December 29, 2005 09:22 PM

http://kgmb9.com/kgmb/display.cfm?storyID=6914

Honolulu,HI

Family Sick From Mold-Infested Home

A KGMB9 Exclusive

Jim Mendoza – jmendoza@...

On Iroquois Avenue, find the Delatorre house by finding the " got

mold " sign.

Seems funny? Don't laugh.

Rose Delatorre can't walk without stepping on mold. Her yard is

covered, even dry patches. Delatorre says it's caused her chronic

colds and lung infections.

" How sick have you been? " KGMB9 asked Delatorre.

" Where I've actually been to the emergency rooms, " she replied.

Tina Bartelli used to live next door, until bronchitis, pneumonia,

laryngitis and upper respiratory problems made her move.

" I started seeing a neurologist because they feared I had MS, " she

said. " I was pretty ill. "

They say doctors diagnosed both women as mold sufferers.

Rose is on allergy meds. It isn't helping.

" That made me say, wait a minute, I'd better put up a sign, let

other people know that if I've got it and I've got these health

issues, I'm sure there's other people that are worse, " she said.

Rose complained to the company that runs the subdivision. They sent

an inspector, who said no surface mold growth was found.

Iroquois Point Island Club general manager Kiran Polk says the

Delatorre house isn't a health hazard.

" The testing did find that there was no abnormal fungal spore cells

in her home and everything was normal, " Polk said.

Rose cleans her air conditioners twice a week. She says she cleaned

one on Monday. Today, just three days later, the black was back.

" I know that it's going directly into my bedroom and being sucked

into our air conditioner, " she said.

Rose says she's urged management to come and see the problem. Aside

from maintenance, she says no one has.

" At one time, I was wondering, am I a hypochondriac? " she said.

Delatorre says doing this story could get her evicted. She says it

can't be worse than how she's already suffering. It wasn't what she

signed up for when she moved in.

The Delatorres say they've been living with the mold problem more

than a year and everybody in the house is sick.

Iroquois Point Management has offered to adjust the sprinklers and

redo the yard to eliminate standing water. The family can move to

another house in the subdivision -- that would cost $250.