Years of exposure to coal dust can turn your lungs black and make it difficult for you to breathe.
Black lung disease is incurable, but treatment and financial support are available for miners who qualify.
Eight-eight -year-old Robert Barrett undergoes breathing tests at UPMC Altoona’s Black Lung Clinic.
He began shoveling coal at a Cambria County mine during summer vacations from high school.
“There was a cutting machine that undercut the coal, undercut the seam and if you and I were partners, two persons on that machine, we couldn’t see each other except for our lights. I mean, that’s how much dust there was,” he says.
Robert believes that’s when he got his greatest exposure to coal dust. He says now you can hear him breathe, if you’re close enough. “I kind of gurgle inside,” he says.
UPMC Altoona Respiratory Therapist Katelynn Grados says, “the most important thing to know about black lung is that it’s progressive and it’s latent, so it can be in your lungs for years, after you’ve left the coal mines.”
After a stint in the Navy, Robert became a miner again, to pay his way through night school. He went on to become a federal mine inspector, rose through the department, and was eventually appointed head of the Federal Bureau of Mines by President Gerald Ford. Robert actually helped draft the law creating black lung benefits for miners.
The people from my era, probably most of them have it some, in some level,” he says.
Grados not only tests for black lung, she also helps patients apply for federal benefits. Robert was originally disqualified because of his service as a federal mine inspector. But she helped him through the application process and he was accepted into the program.
Miners or former miners who need help due to black lung can get free breathing screens, free flu shots, and advice on applying for benefits at an upcoming Flu Vaccination and Health Fair.
The event will be held on Thursday September 29 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Young People’s Community Center in Ebensburg.
For more information on testing and assistance in obtaining black lung benefits, contact the PA Black Lung Coalition Clinics at UPMC Altoona (814) 889-2853 or at Windber Medical Center (814) 467-3118.
