How Louisville, Kentucky, used technology to combat air pollution

L ouisville, Kentucky, is known around the world for the best horse, bourbon and baseball races. Recently, however, they have also become infamous for their poor air quality. Pollution is only becoming a greater threat to human health, and some cities are adapting better than others. Air Louisville, a community-based program that uses digital health technology to improve asthma, has recently begun to learn how toxic the city is for respiratory disorders and what can to repair it.

is one of the worst places to live in the United States if you suffer from a respiratory disorder, said Ted Smith, former chief of innovation of the city

In 2015, Air Louisville discovered more than 1,000 citizens with asthma or COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and enrolled them in their program. They were able to attach intrusive sensors (manufactured by Propeller Health) to each of the subjects' inhalers that, via an app on their smartphone, relay to Air Louisville exactly when and where the inhaler was used . It is relevant information for the company because a person suffering from this disease is more likely to use his inhaler when his symptoms are reported – which could be caused by a concentration increased air pollution.

After collecting millions of data, able to create a heat map showing areas of concentrated pollution, which allowed them to locate the worst areas of the city. By targeting specific locations with poor air quality, they were able to initiate a massive effort of policy change at the city scale, in addition to raising public awareness about the question.

and implement a transportation policy (such as rerouting trucks around these areas instead of crossing them), create new zoning laws to prevent future emissions and plant more trees in these targeted locations.

The average inhaler user saw a staggering 82 percent reduction in symptoms of asthma and COPD. For people who depend on these – sometimes very expensive – remedies for their health and well-being, this development is enormous.

With the success of the initiative, Louisville has withdrawn from the race as the most polluted city in the country while working hard to share this technology with other cities to try. to improve the lives of citizens from one ocean to the other.

"I feel better in the world," said Dawn Sirek, an asthmatic and local nurse witnessing the effects of pollution for years. "There are good people trying to do good things, and that's what Louisville is talking about."