HEALTH COACH - I will not wear the American American uniform

HEALTH COACH -

I will not wear the American American uniform "Says Heather Poole," But you probably know me better as an employee 447110. I have been a flight attendant for 21 years. I love my job and I have always been proud to work for the Americans, so that, five years ago, I wrote about it in my book. He became a New York Times Bestseller.

Many have changed in the last nine months. The biggest thing for me is trust, which is problematic when you have a job that requires a lot of trust. I work in a tube flying at 30,000 feet. I put my trust in the hands of people I do not know personally. Mix in terrorism and whatever contagious disease may occur and, well, you hope that you can trust the people who are responsible for making the right decisions that prevent us. I have always confidence in America and never questioned that confidence ... until now. The scary thing is that if I can not trust the Americans to give me a safe uniform, that is, a safe place to work, what else do I need to m & # 39; 39; worry?

Maybe you do not realize What a serious mistake it is to tell people the uniform is safe when there are more than 5,000 employees who have had serious reactions . Maybe you do not realize that you are challenging our confidence in you when you continue to ignore all these sick employees by telling us that we will no longer have the opportunity to wear the old Blue uniform or alternative parts similar to those we bought by ourselves. Certainly, you have seen the horrible pictures of the skin reactions that my fellow travelers and our pilots have shared; You've probably heard our stories about respiratory diseases. By telling us that we would ONLY be allowed to wear Twin Hill or that Aramark uniforms are disturbing at so many levels.

Let the record state that I can not prove that my health problems are actually caused by my wearing uniform. This is how the uniform manufacturer continues to emerge. The burden of proof rests with me. This is also why the American refuses to recall the uniform. Because we have not yet been able to prove what exactly makes us sick. Yet, thousands of us are sick; Some of my colleagues have had doctors recommend that they quit their job; Others have lost wages because they have exhausted all their sick time and now they are harassed by management during their participation.

Now let me see that every time I go to work, I feel terrible. In my two decades as a ruler, I have never felt like that before. This is not a coincidence; So many other flight attendants have suffered from various conditions since the uniforms were introduced in September. Rashes and hives to thyroid problems. Severe respiratory problems to changes in menstrual cycles. From bloody nose to extreme swelling of faces and limbs. Eye infections with flu-like symptoms that do not respond to antibiotics.

In addition, flight attendants from Alaska Airlines had the same set of health problems a few years ago with uniforms made by the same company. Even if their uniform has been tested safely, these diseases must mean something.

I have hypothyroidism. My thyroid has been stable for years. I test my blood every three months. My TSH has been less than 2 (normal) for years. I have the data to prove it. After 6 days of uniformity, it is out of the normal range. I could have explained if I had not read about the Alaska flight attendants who had thyroid problems after they received new uniforms by Twin Hill. This is all it takes to prevent me from wearing the uniform. My doctor increased my dose of medication and I changed to similar uniforms. Problem solved, is not it? False. I would like it to be simple.

A few months after we issued the new uniform, I developed cough. Stop all flights without stopping. Far from colleagues in uniform, I was fine. Near them, I could not stop coughing.

Four months after the issue of the new uniform, my heart began to race. At first, I wondered if this was anxiety. I wondered what it made me feel so anxious as soon as I arrived at the airport? Was it the fact that I had just started making more international trips? Was I worried about my crews? This was not logical because I love to fly in Europe and I always love being around the people with whom I worked. Then, some one mentioned that their iWatch had resumed their heart rate in flight and, out of blue, it would be very high.

I downloaded a heart rate monitor application and started tracking my heart rate in flight. I could not believe what I saw. In the field, it is on average 88bpm. In the plane, it reached 180. That's when I realized that this feeling was not anxiety at all, but my heart was In race, not because I was stressed or anxious, but because colleagues in uniform were nearby.

Respiratory problems followed as a result. Five months after the release of the new uniform, I found myself out of breath at work. My lungs seemed to have shrunk. I ended up in ER in December. I was diagnosed with RAD (Reactive Respiratory Tract Disease) and received an inhaler and steroids, as did so many of my colleagues who had never had trouble breathing before 20 September.

I never had a rash but in January I started getting tongs all over my body - only to work.

As you can see from the fact that I stopped wearing the uniform in October, but I still have reactions to work, Is not only dermal absorption, like Americans, would like the world to believe it, but chemical inhalation too.

As a woman, I find offensive that America continues to justify maintaining new uniforms by indicating the number of flight attendants that As it looks. Only in Airline World, the management can get away by saying something like that, without taking into account the fact that 1 of the 10 flight attendants suffers. The proof that sexism is still alive and well in our industry dominated by women.

As American likes to focus on looks, I will speak to you in a language that you will understand better. By refusing what is happening, instead of protecting employees and getting to the root of the problem, this is not a good look for Americans. In fact, it is embarrassing. I am no longer proud to work for a company that only cares about how we look.

Which brings us to Aramark. I know the American wants to make it look like there 's no problem giving us an alternative to the Twin Hill uniform. I know that the American leaders want to make the media resemble. As they do something about the uniform crisis by offering us a fourth uniform option (it does not matter that being in close proximity to colleagues who still carry Twin Hill makes us sick). Unfortunately, there is something wrong with Aramark.

I should start by saying that I liked the way Aramark looked, first. But after my 10-year-old son ended up blocking the beta-blockers to slow down his racing heart, it did not sound so good. This happened as I was trying to uniform at home to see if I could wear it to work. During this time, I had a slight reaction to the Aramark uniform. But my son had a terrible reaction. He was dizzy and could not breathe. His heart rate increased from 80 to 130 to 150 to 170 in seconds. The doctor did an EKG and issued him a beta blocker. For two days, he could not walk or eat because he was so dizzy.

I took the Aramark uniform and took it out of the house. Two days later, the mysterious heart condition of my son disappeared.

Before I blame myself - my grooming products (which were never a problem before September 20th) as Hector Adler did in December - # 39; s first? ? Why have we ever had reactions to uniforms (or clothes in general) in the past? What has changed in the business uniform? What do Aramark and Twin Hill have in common?

Let the record state that I will not wear a uniform manufactured by Aramark or Twin Hill, regardless of the deadline. My question to you is what will happen to those of us who refuse to wear it? How does American plan to manage people like me who refuse to put themselves in danger? People who choose their health and the health of their family, on a uniform that looks good?

I await your answer,

Heather Poole