"Researchers are learning more about the long-term public health effects of living through extreme weather, especially in more isolated communities."
"In February 2023, George Garrow jumped in his car and hurried to help people impacted by a freight train that had derailed in East Palestine, Ohio.
The crash happened about a quarter-mile west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania state line and sent plumes of toxic smoke and hazardous chemicals into the air above the small town. A medical doctor by training, Garrow was on his way there when it dawned on him that he was in over his head.
“I realized I don’t know the first thing about what we were supposed to do to care for someone who may be exposed to an environmental pollutant,” he said.
Garrow is CEO of Primary Health Network, Pennsylvania’s largest federally qualified health center, with a network of 46 community clinics. Also known as community health centers, these sites aim to fill gaps in the healthcare system and provide care to underserved populations, regardless of a patient’s ability to pay."
Marie Cusick reports for Inside Climate News September 23, 2026.
