By Angela Marshall
She blames a number of physical problems, including numbness of the face, memory loss and two nodules on her lungs, on what she alleges was poor air quality in the building at 371 Merrick Rd. where she once worked.
Alto left the Rockville Centre building a year ago after more than two years of complaints about an offensive odor that left her and other workers suffering from headaches, itchy eyes, vomiting, tightness of the chest and more. She said her symptoms made her too weak to work any more. At least two other workers have left the building because they felt their health was in danger.
For more than three years, the culprit behind their distress remained a mystery. Now, Alto believes she knows what's causing the smell and resultant symptoms -- mold.
An environmental testing firm hired by Alto and Susan Hughes, who have joined to sue the building's owner for damages to their health, found Stachybotrys Chartarum and several other molds inside the two suites where the women worked.
Alto of Oceanside and Hughes of Long Beach both worked in medical offices in the building.
Stachybotrys (pronounced Stack-ee-bot-ris) gained national attention in 1995 when it was suspected of causing pulmonary hemorrhages in 14 Cleveland children, killing two. It is also one of the main suspects in sick-building syndrome, a catch-all phrase used when corrupted indoor-air quality makes a large percent of a building's tenants or employees ill. Symptoms can range from headaches, nausea, dizziness, short-term memory loss, itchy eyes and throats to possible damage to the nerve and respiratory systems.
Jeffery Gilman, of Gilman Management Corp., which oversees the RVC building, said he was limited in how much he could say because of the lawsuit and did not address questions concerning whether his experts also found mold in the building or whether any such mold had been removed.
Gilman said the owners and the management firm have spent over $100,000 to find the cause of the smell and on efforts to fix it. "We are doing everything in the proper fashion to make sure that the building is in the proper phase that it is supposed to be in," he said.
Sniffing out the problem
In the more than three years since workers began to complain about the odor, the Nassau County Health Department has received dozens of written complaints and emergency calls concerning the odor. Between July 1999 and February 2000, the health department conducted nine inspections of the building. And while the inspectors found a "slight hydrogen sulfide odor" on four occasions, they could find no air contaminant in the building.
Alto and Hughes were stunned. They wondered how they could be overwhelmed by the odor, be feeling so sick and still be told there was nothing noticeably wrong with the building.
In March, 2001, David M. Achman, commissioner of health, wrote Gilman a letter saying that because the health department hasn't been able to find any harmful chemicals, the continuing odor becomes "a matter which would have to be resolved privately between the involved parties -- landlord and tenant(s)."
Still unable to return to their jobs, Alto and Hughes filed suit against Gilman Management on June 12 in New York State Supreme Court, seeking damages exceeding $25,000.
Alto said the suit was a last-ditch attempt to save her life. She said she needed to know what was causing her symptoms in order to seek the proper medical treatment. More than a year after leaving the building, Alto said she is seeing doctors for several lingering respiratory problems, memory loss and more. Doctors have also found two nodules on her lungs.
Although Gilman would not discuss the mold, he did say that he feels that because of the time lapse between when the women left and the testing that, "Whatever is in the building now has nothing to do with their particular matter."
It will be up to Alto's and Hughes' lawyer, Steve Savolo, to prove that the mold existed when the women were working in the building and that their health problems are due to that exposure.
According to Alto, results from special blood tests show she has previous exposure to Stachybotrys and Cladosporium, one of the other molds found in her office.
While Stachybotrys is not found as often as Cladosporium in homes and buildings, the Center for Disease Control Web site said "it is not rare."
However, the level of Stachybotrys allegedly found in the RVC building is higher than normal. Colonies of molds are ranked into four categories: less than 10,000 is low, 10,000 to 100,000 is medium, 100,000 to 1,000,000 is medium to heavy, and more than a million is heavy.
Samples taken by Olmsted Environmental Services Inc. show 336,200 units of Stachybotrys were found in one of the offices. Testers were only allowed to take samples in the offices were Alto and Hughes worked and they were not allowed to take air or dust samples, which Edward Olmsted said "severely limited the survey."
During his inspection, Olmsted saw water-stained ceiling tiles along the windows and the perimeter walls, which, he wrote, indicates that "the glass facade of the building has water incursion problems."
Water damage is a direct cause of mold growth in buildings. Experts say most cases of mold infestation can be traced back to a water problem that was not taken care of properly.
Olmsted also wrote that he found a ceiling tile inside the air intake section of one air conditioner on the second floor. The sample had 1.2 million units of yeast, another mold, on it. "This is a serious problem," Olmsted wrote, "since mold spores released from the tile enter the air conditioner and are distributed through the ventilation ducts."
In addition to the mold, Olmsted's report showed that the air conditioner serving the third floor allegedly does not have an outside air inlet. "This unit recirculates air," he wrote. "This is a significant problem since the windows are sealed and the only source of fresh air is the mechanical ventilation system. One of the most important factors in preventing indoor air quality problems is the delivery of fresh air by the ventilation system. When offices do not receive adequate fresh air, a buildup of air contaminants and odors will occur."
According to the health department file on 371 Merrick Rd., the building was originally designed as open office space. It was partitioned into separate office spaces roughly three and a half years ago, within several months of the time when the smell began.
Olmsted concluded, "...there is a strong likelihood that the health problems and symptoms reported by the two employees could be a result of the building environment."
Other issues that could lead to indoor air quality problems were found by one of the two environmental firms hired by Gilman to solve the problem. In a 1999 report, John Pedneault said he found an X-ray development machine, a laser surgery device and several roof drains were all vented into the return plenum of the air-conditioning system. Pedneault wrote in a February 2000 letter to the health department that the roof drains "were illegally connected to the septic system and allowed the sewage gases to enter the air-conditioning system."
It is not clear whether the work necessary to correct these problems was taken. Several estimates for the work were submitted to the health department.
In paperwork filed by his attorneys, Gilman denied Alto's and Hughes' charges of negligence, fraud, nuisance and unfair business practice and asserted that any injury or damages sustained by the plaintiffs were caused by the contributory negligence of the plaintiffs.
