Environmental Justice in the Bronx: Why the Asthma Rate is so High in the Borough
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By: Jay Dow
THE BRONX — A 15-year-old Bronx student is under pressure not just not just academically as she adjusts to remote learning during the pandemic, but also as she makes simple, ordinary moments, as her respiratory system works overtime for the next breath.
That’s what asthma does to Ilyna Hernandez and others like her.
“I feel like there’s somebody sitting on my chest,” she said.
She was trying to go to sleep before one of her most recent asthma
attacks. Hernandez’ mother was asleep on the sofa, so the teen woke her up.
“And she had to call the ambulance,” Hernandez said. “They came and they picked me up, and they took me to the hospital.”
In the South Bronx, the teen is not alone. Her mother, Gina, is well aware that it is not a coincidence.
