Cindy Meehan-Patton; Owner of Shelter Ecology
I began researching indoor air quality and your health in 1991 when I was diagnosed with MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity) and Environmental Illness (EI).
I had just graduated from my 3rd college after attending college on and off for 10 years. The result was a BA in Interior Design with Honors from UT Knoxville.
The reason it took so long to get through college was because I worked with several design and architectural firms between colleges. I received an Associate Degree with Honors from Morehead State University in 1982. I worked for a firm for 2 years after that. Then I attended Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond for a year where I took up studies in art and architecture. Then I worked with another firm for 1.5 years. Then I decided to attend UT Knoxville to obtain my degree. I opened my own practice during that time in Asheville, NC due to the fact that I had established a clientele from the previous firms I worked with. I finally obtained my 5 year degree in January of 1990.
I was diagnosed with MCS the following year and I believe the stress I was under at UT, taking 18 hours per semester and running my own practice, was the straw that broke the camels back so to speak. But even as a young girl I had mental and physical problems, including an ulcer at age 10. I was vaccinated and had braces which definitely weakened my immune system at a young age. I also had many rounds of antibiotics at one point for a reoccurring throat infection. All of these things are a set up for immune system suppression. The biggest culprit to MCS is exposure to pesticides, either chronic or acute exposure.
My father is an architect, so as a young girl I remember walking around the sites where we first renovated a home and then built a new home. In the 70′s there was no alert to the dangers of pesticides. But termite treatments along with monthly pest control treatments in those houses along with long term exposure in other buildings I lived in over time were the main culprits to my health problems.
In 1993, I began Shelter Ecology with 2 other partners in Asheville, NC. It began as a consultation hotline for indoor air issues and evolved over time into an interior design practice offering environmentally safe materials. By 1998 I became a stocking dealer for some finish companies that needed representation on the east coast, including AFM Safecoat. To this day I am one of their oldest dealers and continue to support and promote their products even though as of 2010, I no longer stock products. Instead I order them per job need. I did this for health reasons and because I have chosen to put my focus on building a social network for indoor air quality issues. I have also been working on writing a book for 2 years and have decided to turn it into articles that can be downloaded directly from my website.
From 1991 to 2004 I spoke at many venues for green building including the Green Village Expo in Charleston, SC, The North Carolina Recycling Association Conventions in Raleigh, NC for 4 years in a row and The Environmental Forum in Chattanooga Tennessee. In 1999, after designing and building my own healthy home, I began giving tours of it on a monthly basis and during one of the tours I was approached by a green builder to put together a green building directory for our area. My vision was to establish residential green building guidelines for Western North Carolina or North Carolina, so we put our heads together and visions together and started up the Western North Carolina Green Building Council.
In 2000, I obtained the 501c3 for the council and became the first president. From 2000 to 2002, a core group of about 6 of us (professionals from the community) worked very hard to launch the first directory, apply for funding and establish some educational seminars. From 2002-2004, I became the Secretary of the council and by 2004, many things changed in my life including some intense health challenges, so I stepped down from being an active part of the council. What a success story the WNCGBC (Western North Carolina Green Building Council) is! Presently they have 3 employees manning their offices. They offer monthly educational seminars and have established the HBH (Healthy Built Homes) green building program that is state wide. So, my visions did come to fruition at some level. The program is not as focused on IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) as I need it to be. But, I really do not know of a residential green building program that is.
In my eyes, a home is not green if it is not truly healthy. That is my purpose, to educate and promote exactly what it means to create and maintain the healthier healthy home…not just healthy, but healthier. My goal presently is to establish a social network for this issue and to provide educational tools on this subject including consultation, design and publications that can be downloaded directly from my website. I prefer to collaborate with a “green” team to provide a healthier healthy home for my clients. Two heads are always better than one when it comes to design. While my goals are lofty and seem overwhelming sometimes since I am a one person business with difficult health challenges, I continue to press forward with my Lord Jesus Christ as my pilot.
