The YWCA located at Fifth and Seneca is an eight-story building that houses women who have been marginalized by society because of race, gender, age and poverty. A core mission of the YWCA is to “empower” these women.
The first three floors are dedicated to administration offices and an overnight shelter for women and children — smoking cigarettes is not allowed. The fourth floor is dedicated to the manager and staff in addition to housing units. The fifth floor is also housing units and smoking is not allowed. Floors six through eight house about 75 women who are allowed to smoke in their units (usually with windows closed and doors open to the hallways).
Out of 75 women on floors six through eight are a handful who choose not to smoke. These women are forced to breathe secondhand smoke. Now, some of the health risks associated with exposure to secondhand smoke include heart, lung and cancer diseases, asthma and leukemia. Not to mention the horrific stench.
The YWCA is, in part, a federally funded organization, ergo the conundrum: Most of the women who are ill and will become ill from smoking and/or secondhand smoke do not have health insurance and will depend on tax payers to fund their treatment. Those who have minimal health insurance will end up with huge medical bills that will further their descent into poverty.
Furthermore, those of us who are trying really hard to find employment incur the expense of having our clothes laundered to rid the horrific smell that clings to our clothing. When elevator doors open onto floors six, seven and eight one is greeted by a thick wall of cigarette smoke and the stench that accompanies it.
How is this situation empowering women? Most of us living at the YWCA are not there by choice; we are there because we are in the grips of poverty due to having been marginalized by society. We are your poor, your sick, your minorities, your old, your weary and yours without access to health insurance.
Please empower women living at the YWCA on Seneca by giving them the opportunity to live a healthy lifestyle.