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Eastern
Shore Community Health Partners (ESCHP) was formed in June 2008
in response to a preponderance of rare cancers and neurological diseases
on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay in Baldwin County, Alabama.
The Alabama Department of Public Health in November 2008 concluded that
Baldwin County experienced a childhood cancer cluster from 2000 through
2004, while reporting slightly elevated levels of leukemias, lymphomas,
bladder, kidney and ovarian cancers in recent years.
Our own word-of-mouth database dating back to 1995 shows that the Eastern
Shore of Baldwin County has been experiencing high rates of rare cancers,
including brain and neurological cancers, leukemias and lymphomas. Our
statistics show that Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s
disease, is, at the very least, five times higher on the Eastern Shore
than the national average.
The mission of our nonprofit agency is to protect the health and welfare
of Eastern Shore citizens through increasing knowledge and awareness of
health issues including rare cancers and neurological diseases. By maintaining
a database of these rare chronic diseases and working with scientists and
researchers from universities, we aim to assess the full scope of chronic
diseases on the Eastern Shore and conduct studies to uncover possible
environmental causes.
We believe our best chance of success in this quest will come from privately
funded studies.
Unfortunately, the Alabama Department of Public Health does not appear
equipped to address the issue and protect our local residents. After our
organization made state officials aware of the high rate of rare cancers
in
the area, we were promised a full and complete investigation. Instead,
the department interviewed only 56 of the 90 contacts provided by our organization
and by residents who had contacted the department.
The understaffed department conceded that it lacked the resources to complete
the study and the ability to interpret its own "open-ended" questionnaire.
Still, inexplicably, its director argued that most of the rare cancers
that had been elevated were no longer statistically significant. The only
cancer statistical trend found to be "worth consideration" was
for bladder cancer. From 2001 to 2005,
the incidence rate for bladder cancer
among Baldwin County residents was 18 percent higher than the rest of Alabama,
the state acknowledged.
A final report on the state’s incomplete findings, which was promised
to us in 2008, has not yet materialized.
Nevertheless, our knowledgeable board of directors continues to work toward
assessing our health issues, facilitating partnerships with universities
for scientific mapping and environmental research, and raising funds for
those studies.
Our mission can only be accomplished with your participation.
Our database is a powerful tool that already has lured researchers to our
area and will continue to remain our best resource for future studies.
By donating financially to our cause and joining our rare cancer and ALS
studies, we can continue our mission to gauge the true scope of chronic
disease on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay and their possible environmental
causes.
Thank you for your interest. |
