Rene' and Robbin VanDeinse
Disciple of Prayer
We are living in unsafe conditions. 4 years ago my husband ### got sick, he was pulled out of a job that he truly loved, he is permanently disabled with COPD and asthma even though he never smoked a day in his life! We lost our home, car and everything because we couldn't hold on financially. We needed to find a safe place for us to live, I have asthma and many allergies as well. We thought we found the perfect place because of the no smoking policy rules and this building is owned by a group of churches. We talked with management in great length about our medical illnesses, we gave them medical documentation showing them that we can't be exposed to smoke of any kind, no second hand smoke, no fumes of any kind, no chemical cleaners, nothing that would exacerbate our respiratory illnesses. They agreed to all this, the assured us that the no smoking rules would be strictly enforced, we believed them so we moved in, all was good for little more than a year, then we got a new neighbor, he is smoking, vaping and using chemical cleaners to mask over the smoke smell, this is all coming into our bedroom, bathroom and on out into our living room not giving us anywhere to go. We filed complaint after complaint, management has caught him themselves several times, he has several violations against him and for some reason he is allowed to stay and continue smoking and all the other stuff. On January 14, 2018, I went into the bedroom to get what my husband needed so to save him from being exposed to the smoke and fumes, when I entered the room it had a very strong odor of menthol, the neighbor was vaping, within 15 seconds of entering the room my throat and windpipe began to close up, I had to quickly take a double dose of medication, it was not enough, I ended up in the hospital, I had to have breathing treatments and they treated me for acute chemical pneumonitis. even after all that's happened this neighbor is still allowed to smoke and vape. An apartment became available today on a floor that has no smokers, we asked if we could have that apartment, The manager ### said no and he offered us another apartment right between two heavy smokers, we said no that would be stupid to move next to the same situation! We think ### is doing this out of retaliation because we went over his head to try to get help with this and to no avail we got no help at all no matter what we did who we talked to we got no where. We don't want to move from this area because of my husband's medical issues he was also born with a very rare disease and his medical bills are paid in full by this hospital where we live but we have to stay in this area to get this, we have tried to get it elsewhere and we are not able to so it's very important we stay here in this area. this is the only building that's supposed to be smoke free in this whole area. We have been threatened not to go up against ###, we were told we won't win and that we won't be able to get into another HUD building anywhere in New York State! We have talked with HUD they will do nothing about this, we have talked to code enforcements, we have talked to legal aid, we have talked to The New York State Health Department we even sent letters to Governor ###. We are being told that there are laws against what is going on here but we can't get anyone to enforce these laws. We are Christians we Pray all the time, we know that we will go through trials and tribulations, but we keep hearing in our head if God is for you then who can be against you. We don't know what to do or think anymore, we are totally drained by all this it's been going on more than three months. We are asking for prayer if God could lay a burden on ###'s heart to do the right thing for us to keep us safe. we know that God is still in charge. Please we need help with this our prayers don't seem to be enough. Thank you ### and ###
