Press release from the American Lung Association:
The American Lung Association recently held a teleconference discussing the North Carolina Woodstove Changeout Program. The program works to improve indoor and outdoor air quality by removing old, high polluting, low efficiency wood stoves and qualified fireplaces by replacing them with cleaner burning, more efficient EPA-certified woodstoves and hydronic heaters or heat pumps.
The program covers residents of Cherokee, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Mecklenburg, and Swain counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The American Lung Association has long been committed to reducing resident’s exposure to wood smoke. Since 2010, the Lung Association has successfully implemented a number of woodstove changeout programs across the country.
Health and public policy experts along with a retailer and participant of the North Carolina Woodstove Changeout Program discussed program requirements, the health impacts of air quality and benefits of the program. Speakers included:
Brenda Olsen, Chief Mission Officer, Southeast Region, American Lung Association
Keith Bamberger, Information and Communication Specialist, North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
Janice Nolen, Assistant Vice President, National Policy and Advocacy, American Lung Association
Michelle Edwards, Wood Stove Changeout Coordinator, American Lung AssociationStephen Binder, Participating Retailer, Fireside Hearth and Home Shop – Murphy, NC
Phillip Haigler, Woodstove Changeout Voucher Recipient
To listen to the teleconference, CLICK HERE.Applications for the vouchers are available online. Applications must be submitted directly to the American Lung Association via physical mail. Once people receive their voucher, they will have four weeks to enter into a purchase agreement with one of the participating retailers. The retailer then installs the new stove and recycles and makes the old stove inoperable. The number of vouchers is limited.
For more program details, go to lung.org/woodstove or call 1-800-548-8252. For more about the American Lung Association, go to: lung.org.
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