Oil spill health study looking for participants

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. (WALA) - POSSIBLE HEALTH EFFECTS FROM OIL SPILL CLEAN-UP

Every day for months, workers and volunteers cleaned beaches, collected boom and piloted heavy equipment. Cleaning up the oil spill was a tedious process that put thousands in contact with crude oil and dispersants. Now, the National Institute of Health wants to ask those workers if they’re sick.

”We’re looking at a wide range of health effects, ranging from mental health concerns to respiratory effects to changes in blood pressure, all the way up to cancer,” researcher Dr. Dale Sandler said.

TEN-YEAR STUDY

Dr. Sandler is the lead researcher of what’s called the Gulf Long Term Follow-Up Study. She said they want to track the effects the oil spill clean-up had on people for up to ten years.

”It’s very important for us to characterize where they were working and when they were working, and we’ll be asking about their general health at the time of the oil spill. We’ll be asking about their health now and over time. We’ll be re-interviewing people and asking about any change in their health,” Dr. Sandler said.

The GuLF study is strictly for the workers and volunteers involved in oil spill clean-up. That still leaves a possible pool of 150,000 people. Researchers hope more than 50,000 of those workers step forward to help out with the study.

”Everybody’s story is different, and it’s important. And each gulf oil spill worker is important to the study,” Dr. Sandler stated.

The researchers hope to capture those stories and provide some lessons for future disasters.

For more info call 855-644-4853 or click here .

Meetings:

Aug. 31

5:30-6:30 p.m.
Orange Beach Adult Activity Center
26251 Canal Road
Orange Beach, Ala.

7:00-8:00 p.m.
Foley Elementary School Auditorium
450 N. Cedar Street
Foley, Ala.

Sept. 1

2:00-3:00 p.m.
Bayou La Batre Community Center
12745 Padgett Switch Road
Bayou La Batre, Ala.