Mrs. Sue Casteel, a
regional representative for the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease
Registry (ATSDR), was present at the last MERC Meeting.
Mrs. Casteel wanted to make sure people knew who ATSDR was and their
capabilities. ATSDR is a partner of
the EPA and Department of Health & Senior Services and provides assistance
and health aspects in emergency response situations.
ATSDR and DHSS, whom has an agreement with ATSDR to clean up superfund
sites, are partners in emergency response work.
There are a lot of times it may be requested that DHSS be on site and
ATSDR can tap into toxicologists and physicians that are trained in
environmental exposures that DHSS people may not have in their staff, so it is a
partnership. Anyone can contact
ADSTR directly or Missouri DHSS. If
ATSDR were contacted, ATSDR would notify DHSS of the situation and keep DHSS in
the loop on any developments in case DHSS received phone calls.
They answer community concerns of possible health affects from chemical
spills or fires. An extensive staff
is located in Atlanta, but Mrs. Casteel works out of regional office in Kansas
City with two other individuals. There
are toxicologists, physicians, and a lot of people with expertise in responding
specifically to health issues of emergencies located in Atlanta.
ATSDR also has a partnership with the American College of Medical
Toxicologists where physicians specialize in environmental chemical exposures so
if there was an incident where a lot of people went to the emergency room,
physicians can be contacted. Then
the local physicians would be told how to treat people if the individuals had
some kind of exposure that normally is not seen.
ATSDR also handles responses to bioterrorism for CDC and have training
courses available that focus specifically on health issues and emergency
response. There is a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week phone number for CDC.
The staff in the regional office is on call 7 days week 24 hours a day,
too. The contacts are as follow:
Shawn (Emergency
Response Coordinator):
(913) 551-1311
office hours (913)
669-4397 cell
Sue (Regional
Representative):
(913) 551-1312
office hours (913)
669-2589 cell
ATSDR would be glad
to help anyway if there is an emergency that involves health issues.
The Kansas City office is the field office for CDC and ATSDR that cover
Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska health issues that arise.
When people are scared and want health information, the regional office
provides that support. Sometimes it
is hard to get the health information, but ATSDR has access to it.
ATSDR has a couple ways to respond to emergencies like respond over the
phone, or come out onsite if the individual requested.
ATSDR would do whatever the individual requested.
For example, recently two students in a chemistry class had something
blow up and the emergency room called wanting to know how to decontaminate these
people before bringing the individuals to the hospital.
Mrs. Casteel answered the question over the phone because it was not
appropriate to go down there. ATSDR
could send someone to work on site to answer health questions.
ATSDR can provide both services but most of the time people need
immediate answers so technical assistance is provided over the phone and then if
requested ATSDR can go out. ATSDR
has PhD toxicologists and medical physicians that specialize in environmental
exposures to chemicals so it is a good resource. ATSDR is available to anyone and everyone that has an
environmental emergency and needs answers to questions.
ATSDR has a website that is full of useful information, too.