UA SRP Engages Community Members at the TCE Teach-In
Dec. 18, 2017
On August 28, 2017, the UA SRP participated in a “TCE Teach-In” hosted by the Pima County Health Department and the UA Mel and Enid Zukerman College of Public Health. The goal of the event was to provide interested community members with information about contaminants found throughout the Tucson International Airport Area (TIAA) Superfund site. The information focused on current remedial efforts that treat trichloroethene and 1,4-dioxane as well as health information from researchers studying the impacts of these contaminants on human populations. Other groups that assisted in the planning were the Environmental Justice Taskforce, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Tucson Water, TIAA Unified Community Advisory Board, Pima County, UA Health Sciences, and Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center.
UA SRP Trainees Aditi Sengupta, Lydia Jennings, and Emalee Eisenhauer were on hand to deliver attendees information on TIAA contaminants as well as environmentally-focused games for kids. Dr. Mark Brusseau, who has been involved in transport and fate research at the site since the late 1980s, was available to answer community questions on groundwater treatment and contamination. Project Harvest research students Arthur Moses, Jesus Solis, and Ramani Menjugas were also present to answer questions on community gardening as well as provide information on future trainings. Denise Moreno Ramírez, Shana Sandhaus, Dorsey Kaufmann, and Hannah Hard represented the UA SRP Voices Unheard Project and worked to recruit participants for the Project. Dr. Mónica Ramírez-Andreotta facilitated an Expert Panel titled,“ What we know today about the water and the community's health” with panelists Francisco Garcia, MD, MPH (Pima County Health Department), Jeff Biggs (Tucson Water), and Mazda Shirazi, MD, PhD (Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center). A second expert panel was also facilitated Martha Moore-Monroyl titled, “Investigating community health concerns for the future” with Ben Gerhardstein (ATSDR), Dr. Kenneth Ramos (UA Health Sciences), and Dr. Paloma Beamer (UA College of Public Health).