Springs Woman Fights For Mother’s Life

A Colorado Springs woman is fighting for her mother’s life. Elizabeth Reed says she is struggling to deal with second hand smoke that permeates her apartment.

Reed said her mother Ethel suffers from a disease that restricts her airways and the smoke makes it extremely difficult to breath.

Ethel is currently living in senior public housing run by the Colorado Springs Housing Authority and they allow residents to smoke in their units.

But despite the Reed’s pleas for a smoke-free building, they aren’t budging.

Executive Director Eugene Montoya said they are offering Reed some options. First, she can move to another unit in a smoke-free wing, take a free air-purifier or get out of her lease.

Reed has denied the offers. She said the air-purifier could only make her mother’s condition worse. She adds the room Ethel was offered would still be above a smoker.

Instead, Reed is voicing her concern by putting up signs in front of their offices in Colorado Springs.

She hopes the signs will bring attention to the problem.

Montoya emphasized while residents can smoke in their units, they cannot smoke in public areas including the hallways.