DailyBreath launches on App and Google Play Stores
Michael Neugebauer/the Jane Goodall Institute
Asheville, NC - April 2021
When Eric Klos, CEO of DailyBreath, LLC, envisioned developing a platform for delivering environmental insights to patients with respiratory conditions, it started with a foundational hypothesis. The confluence of weather, allergens, and irritants uniquely impacts each individual and this confluence could be ascertained in relation to a person’s symptoms to provide insights that would support efforts to reduce or avoid potentially preventable asthma attacks. To validate the hypothesis, Eric needed a partner, an expert in climate science, that would do a literature review of study-based evidence to show increased asthma incidences when specific weather and environmental thresholds were met.
“Once I realized my need for climate science expertise, because of my background working with the federal government, I was aware of NOAA’s National Climate Data Center, now called the National Center for Environmental Information, located in Asheville, NC,” Eric stated.
He further elaborated, “I knew that Asheville was the place to start if I was going to connect with climate expertise and correlate our changing climate with environmental factors that impact respiratory health.
With only a reach out to Marjorie McGuirk of CASE Consultants International, Eric was able to find his climate science expert. The foundation for the DailyBreath Forecast is climate science research by CASE Consultants International, that informed development of the DailyBreath Risk Index. While DailyBreath has iterated through a prototype and now a product widely available, climate change impacts on respiratory health daily are being more understood and extreme weather events like wildfires or flooding are having residual impacts that ultimately cause problems for those with respiratory conditions.
“As I engaged the climate science community through The Collider, including a workshop on Climate and Respiratory Health in late 2017, the discussion of climate change, environmental factors, and respiratory health made it clearer and clearer that climate adaptation and preventative health and wellness are joined at the hip”, Eric stated. People are increasingly aware of their indoor and outdoor air quality and its impact on their health and wellness. They have also linked their own personal experience outdoors with the local environmental conditions in their community. They understand that efforts to curb pollution and support clean air are important for creating healthier communities. DailyBreath, in conjunction with CASE Consultants International, continues to explore Climate and Health as the Collider explores sector impacts of climate change and supports the translation of climate science into solutions that will mitigate climate change, create climate resilient communities, and help every individual adapt to our changing climate.
DailyBreath has been a Collider member since its inception and continues to partner with both Collider members and Asheville technical resources to foster the emerging climate solutions leadership of ‘Climate City’. DailyBreath and the Collider continues to seek academic partnerships, corporate partners, and climate entrepreneurs to collaborate on innovative climate solutions for our changing world.
