KU Medical Center to Hold Public Information Meeting

 in Independence on Southeast Kansas Health Study

KANSAS CITY, Kan. - A research team from the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) and the University of Kansas (KU) will visit Independence, Kansas, March 2 to host a community information meeting on a health study that the Medical Center is conducting for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  The meeting will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Civic Center of Memorial Hall, 416 North Pennsylvania Street, and will focus on answering questions and addressing concerns that Independence and Montgomery County residents may have about the study.  Researchers also will be available at the Civic Center from 2 to 3:30 p.m. to discuss the study with those residents who may not be able to attend the 5:30 meeting.

 

The study’s purpose is to look for possible health effects related to the operation of four commercial hazardous waste burners and other potential sources of environmental releases located in the Southeast Kansas communities of Chanute, Coffeyville, Fredonia, and Independence.  Community involvement in the design and performance of the study is a major objective of this important project.  To achieve that end, information meetings will be held in each study community so that researchers will have an opportunity to meet with residents, hear their concerns, discuss with them different aspects of the study, and take into consideration the information they gain from these meetings in developing the study’s final protocol.

 

The two-and-one-half-year study, which began September 1, 1997, has three parts--respiratory health, cancer incidence and mortality rates, and environmental monitoring and analysis.  Residents of the study communities will be asked not only to help in developing the study’s final protocol, but also to participate in a health survey and assessment that are key to the project’s respiratory health component.

 

Earlier in the day, researchers will meet with City Manager Paul Sasse, city commissioners, and city and county health officials to discuss the study.  In December and January, researchers presented the project’s draft protocol to the mayors, city managers, and city commissioners of Fredonia, Sedan, and Chanute.  The city of Sedan will serve as the study’s control community.  Over the next two months, study investigators will hold additional community information meetings in Chanute, Coffeyville, Fredonia, and Sedan.

 

KUMC researchers who will attend the Independence meetings include H. William Barkman, M.D., M.S.P.H., the study’s principal investigator; John S. Neuberger, Dr. P.H.; J. Thomas Pierce, Ph.D., C.I.H.; and Dennis D. Wallace, Ph.D.  KU researchers who will attend the meetings include Dennis D. Lane, Ph.D., leader of the study’s environmental monitoring work; Richard Baldauf, M.S., and Ray E. Carter Jr., M.S.

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