GROWING FRESH AIR
A LOOK AT THE HEALTHIEST BUILDING IN NEW DELHI Imagine you are told you must leave the city you work and live in because it’s killing you. Hard to fathom, isn’t it? But this actually happened to Kamal Meattle, a researcher, activist, and New Delhi native, who was told by doctors that the city’s air quality was a threat to his health. His lung capacity had gone down 70 percent, and doctors suggested he leave New Delhi. Instead, Meattle chose to stay and find an innovative solution to his health problems and the city’s air quality crisis. New Delhi is no stranger to poor air quality. Sometimes pollution gets so bad it warrants a city-wide warning for kids to stay inside. Meattle, who studied engineering at MIT, turned to research by NASA and other organizations to address the issue. During his research, Meattle found that there are three common house plants that excel at removing dangerous chemical compounds, the rest of the building, is filled with areca palms, snake plants, and money plants. Today, the PBC is the healthiest building in New Delhi. 20 years after Meattle rolled out his plant-based filter system, the results speak for themselves. Employee productivity has gone up 20 percent. Respiratory problems have gone down by 34 percent, headaches
by 24 percent, and lung impairment by 12 percent, among other health benefits. Just stepping into Paharpur boosts your health: Blood oxygen levels go up by 1 percent after 10 hours in the PBC. Meattle has remained in New Delhi and is set on helping other Indian businesses replicate his plant-based system so they can grow their own fresh air. As he says of his decision to stay, “Either you are overwhelmed by the fact that there are so many problems and so many people, or you find solutions to help in any way you can.”
like formaldehyde and carbon monoxide, from the air: the areca palm, the snake plant (or mother-in-law’s tongue), and the money plant. Using these plants, Meattle created an indoor plant-based air filtering system that allows his building, the Paharpur Business Center (PBC), to cultivate all the fresh air it needs. Air entering the building is cleaned by a scrubber, then is filtered through the building’s extensive greenhouse to remove chemicals and bacteria. The greenhouse, and
THE SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES ATHLETIC TRAINERS VS. PHYSICAL THERAPISTS
A physical therapist and an athletic trainer may seem like two names for the same job. However, the responsibilities and qualifications for these positions come with just as many differences as there are similarities. Understanding what each of these types of health care professionals does can help you know where to go when dealing with a sports-related injury. As the name suggests, athletic trainers deal exclusively with athletes and highly athletic individuals. A bachelor’s degree and usually some additional certification are required to be an athletic trainer. They have a basic understanding of how the skeletomuscular system works, and their responsibilities include developing training plans and strategies for avoiding injuries. When athletes are injured, athletic trainers will assess the injury and communicate that assessment effectively to their patients, coaches, and doctors. A few places athletic trainers can work include schools, professional sports complexes, and rehab clinics.
Physical therapists are qualified to do much of what athletic trainers can
do, but their skills and knowledge are much broader. Physical therapists
have to complete several years of postsecondary education to become a doctor of physical therapy. They can diagnose and treat musculoskeletal injuries, and they have a much deeper understanding of how muscle and bone groups work together. Because they are medical doctors, they develop rehabilitation plans and work closely with patients throughout the recovery process instead of just assessing the injury. You can find physical therapists working in hospitals, private practices, nursing homes, and fitness facilities, among other places. At Campus Commons Physical Therapy, our PTs are highly qualified to diagnose and treat a wide variety of chronic pains and injuries. Give us a call today.
www.campuscommonsphysicaltherapy.com 2
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online