EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — A Mercy Health East Palestine Primary Care facility is one of the few doctors' offices in town. More and more patients are coming in with questions and concerns about their health since the train derailment and controlled release of toxic chemicals one month ago.

What You Need To Know

  • The EPA said dioxin testing with begin “soon” in East Palestine

  • This new type of chemical sampling is in response to concerns residents brought up about what toxins remain in their small community following the train derailment last month

  • Norfolk Southern began removing the train tracks and contaminated soil beneath them Friday as cleanup efforts continue
  • In the meantime, mounting fears regarding the health of people in and around the small village continue to grow as residents report experiencing a range of symptoms

The Chief Clinical Officer said the medical community is learning alongside residents about any health effects that could come out of this situation.

“It’s really unknown right now and unknown what long term will be. We hear people present to the office with rash, with dry eye, with dry throat, with cough and it certainly may be related to the train derailment, but it might be related to common cold, flu, COVID, that we’re seeing this time of year anyway," said Dr. James Kravec, chief clinical officer of Mercy Health Youngstown and Lorain.

He said the primary care office has been part of the East Palestine community for 35 years.

At this point, doctors are treating each patient’s individual symptoms. He said it’s important to be open and honest about what medical experts don’t know and what they’re working to find out.

“You know, tell the patient there really are no lab tests right now to order to check for something related to a train derailment. There is no imaging study that we can order at this point. So, we take their symptoms, we talk about how we take care of the patient now. We tell them that we don’t know what the future holds, but we’ll be there for them and we’re there (for) our patients and that’s what we do with care and compassion," he said.

Right now, dioxins are a major concern.

The Environmental Protection Agency said dioxin sampling is set to begin soon. The agency ordered Norfolk Southern to begin the testing in response to fears brought up by the community. The World Health Organization said these highly toxic environmental pollutants can lead to reproductive and developmental problems and even cause cancer.

“This whole cocktail of chemicals really has everybody worried," said longtime East Palestine resident Linda Murphy.

To date, the EPA said testing so far indicates a low probability for the release of dioxins due to the derailment.

The agency said dioxins may be found in urban or rural environments as a result of burning wood or coal, and said if any unsafe levels of dioxins are found, the source may be uncertain because the chemical breaks down slowly in the environment.

Murphy isn’t buying it.

“I don’t want to hear that there’s dioxins cause we, you know, cook with a grill or you have a campfire. OK. That may be true. But again, this is the biggest chemical spill in the United States in our town. There have got to be dioxins from that," said Murphy.

She feels they have been given the run around in search of satisfying answers.

“Tail chasing. Call this number. Call that number. You’ve got my number. You have the hotline number. You have this number and then you call that number, well we can’t answer that," she explained.

Peggy Caratelli and her husband have only been back in town a few days and already are experiencing symptoms.

“I know that they are telling us that the water and air is fine, but people are having symptoms. My husband here, I actually get a taste in my mouth. He gets the taste, smell, burning eyes, irritated throat, and a headache. So, it’s not adding up," said Caratelli.

For Ashley Mccollum, her priority is her children’s health. She pulled her kids out of East Palestine Schools and is looking into online learning to reduce any potential exposure to toxic chemicals.

Mccollum doesn’t trust the air and water testing done by the EPA that shows everything is safe, so she hired someone to check out her home.

"And our read came back different than what everyone else's read was and we actually had an in-depth what chemicals they found, how much were in there and it was kind of alarming to me," said Mccollum. 

The CDC is conducting a chemical exposure investigation and announced during a town hall Thursday they need about three more weeks for data collection regarding any adverse health effects.

Dr. Kravec said the first line of defense for those concerned in East Palestine is to consult their primary care physician as everyone learns how to heal from this trauma together.

“It’s something where we’re learning and we’re going to read everything we can and we’re going to get all the knowledge we can and this happens in medicine. Things come up that we don’t have the answers on. So, it’s not that it’s frustrating, it’s just part of what we do. So, we’re trained to learn new things as we go which is the best part of medicine," he said.