reversed logo New Orleans Black

Mold follows SUNO to new campus

Section: Health

John Pope

To get away from its mold-infested buildings on the campus that Katrina-related floodwater inundated, Southern University at New Orleans moved its classrooms and offices, as well as some living quarters, into temporary buildings a half-mile away.

But SUNO wasn't able to escape its problems. According to inspections completed last month, mold has followed SUNO to at least three of the 45 structures on what is called the North Campus, a fenced compound that abuts the Lake Pontchartrain levee.

Several factors seem to be responsible.

Andrew Thomas, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said continuous wind from the lake has loosened and even disconnected the corrugated-metal roofs of the temporary buildings at the seams where the panels overlap.

"The wind works its way under the seam and puts upward pressure on the fasteners," he said. "The pressure gradually loosens the nails until they disconnect."

Every building is being inspected, Thomas said, and defective nails are being replaced with screws.

Environmental reports on three buildings blamed poorly installed windows and doors, and problems with the air-conditioning system.

Cracks around some windows and doors let rain in, inspectors found, and flawed air-conditioning systems were conducive to mold growth. In one building, an improperly functioning system let in warm, humid, unfiltered outdoor air, resulting in mold on ceilings, desks and office equipment.

Mold also thrived when people in some buildings closed their vents, resulting in poor circulation and conditions conducive to mold, said Trent Vincent, SUNO's environmental specialist.

Turning off the ventilation system at night also gave rise to mold, he said.

The first reports of mold in North Campus buildings came in July 2006, he said.

Work on the defective windows, doors and air-conditioning systems has begun, said Vincent, who estimated that the repairs should take a month.

There is no estimate yet of how much the repairs will cost, SUNO spokesman Harold Clark Jr. said.

Meanwhile, SUNO Chancellor Victor Ukpolo said, "We're doing all we can to monitor the buildings."

The mold, which thrived inside walls, under carpets and even under buildings, triggered health problems before anyone could see the spores, as Corbi Johnson, an administrative assistant at SUNO since August 2006, can attest.

Respiratory problems

Her problems started in January, with migraines. Then came infections that wouldn't go away, followed by nausea, vomiting and problems with her legs.

"At one point, I could hardly walk on either leg," she said. "Climbing steps is a pain, and I can't walk much."

Johnson and her colleagues suspected something in their building was amiss, but, she said, university personnel couldn't do anything because they couldn't see anything.

But a window had been leaking, she said, and there was no mistaking the smell pervading their work area.

"It smelled like something dead," Johnson said. "The smell was pungent. We would be in and out of the office so we could get some fresh air. . . . My boss was sneezing and coughing all day long. That was all he did."

Johnson, who has a history of asthma, was sent home for a week, and she started to feel better. But a week after returning to work, "I had a bronchial infection," she said.

This happened four times: Johnson would go home, and her condition would improve. Then she would return to her job and get sick again.

She was put on prescription after prescription. One day, her pharmacist, whom she had come to know well, asked about her problem because, he said, she looked haggard.

"I said, 'I feel the way I look,' " Johnson replied.

This fall, building inspections began. In Johnson's building, she said, an inspector lifted the carpet and found mold, and he found more in the wall.

She was sent home at the end of September and returned Nov. 12 on light duty. She is taking a prescription antibiotic and using two inhalers and a nebulizer, and she and her colleagues have been moved to another building until their building can be repaired.

"We're bunched up in a small area," Johnson said. "They moved us, but there's no room for files or supplies. If my boss needs anything, he needs to go back into the building."

Mold under buildings too

SUNO employees who have made mold-related complaints have been moved to temporary quarters until their areas can be repaired, Ukpolo said.

In addition to the mold growing inside buildings, mold has been thriving beneath them.

"When it rains, water sits," Johnson said. "They just started pumping sand under some of the buildings, but that's after the fact. Even though they're doing it now, a lot of those buildings probably already have the mold underneath it."

Besides, she said, "unless you clean and remediate it, pumping sand is only going to stop the growth. It's not going to get rid of the growth that's already there."

Meanwhile, work continues on SUNO's main campus. Occupancy of the first building, a multipurpose gymnasium, is expected in early January, Clark said. The move back will be piecemeal, as buildings are ready, he said, and the process, which will include the first phase of SUNO's first student-housing building, is expected to be complete by fall 2009.

More Articles