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Dr. John Santilli, Allergist, Bridgeport, CT, noticed that many of his patients were sick from the same environment - a local school. He took action, and with the help of the local parents and teachers, the profoundly moldy, dangerous school was torn down before it could hurt anymore people. Dr. Santilli's presentations and research are below.
Dr. Santilli has also developed a survey for environmental exposures. John Santilli, MD Address 4675 Main Street, Bridgeport, CT 06606, USA. E-mail:
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Fairfield parents await McKinley test result
http://www.yourconnecticut.com/lifenews/1911
Posted: Friday, October, 20th, 2000
Fairfield parents await McKinley test result
By ANDREW BROPHY
Connecticut Post
FAIRFIELD |
While medical and engineering teams tour McKinley Elementary School -- closed indefinitely Wednesday night because of mold problems -- school officials and angry parents await a final analysis of the threat posed to students' health.
Michelle Major, an inspector for the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health, said her final report -- which will include more air-quality test results and recommendations on how to proceed -- should be finished next week.
And besides the mold problems, it came to light this week that the town's oldest elementary school has 27 fire code violations -- all of which were discovered and reported to the Board of Education more than three years ago.
Today, McKinley will be closed a second day as testing proceeds and students will not attend classes. The school will remain closed indefinitely, officials said.
Beginning Monday, McKinley kindergartners will go to Holland Hill School, first-graders to Jennings School, second-graders to Stratfield School, third-graders to Riverfield School, fourth-graders to North Stratfield School and fifth-graders to Osborn Hill School.
Angry parents late Wednesday denounced the Board of Education -- and, in particular, Supt. of Schools Carol Harrington -- for keeping McKinley open without knowing whether it was safe for their children.
Since the school year started, mold in McKinley is believed to be responsible for the hospitalization of two students and dozens more becoming ill.
Steve Fidenzato, who has a kindergartner, third- and fifth-grader in McKinley, was particularly incensed that Harrington did not close McKinley on Wednesday -- after already deciding to close the school Thursday and today.
He called on Harrington to resign and asked Board of Education Chairman John Madeo, whose board would have to make that decision, for his support.
However, Madeo said, "I respectfully disagree with your opinion of her performance."
McKinley parent Steve Boudreau said school officials need to meet with parents to discuss how McKinley's air-quality crisis was handled.
"This is something we need to address," he said. "This group of parents is not going to let this go away."
When students first began getting sick at McKinley, the Board of Education hired AMC Technology of Stratford to perform air-quality tests. Based on AMC's recommendations, parts of the school were closed.
The state occupational health division was later brought in to perform more air quality tests.
Dr. Robert DeBernardo of the University of Connecticut Medical Center, a member of the medical team now working on McKinley's mold problems, said illnesses associated with mold at the school were primarily allergic reactions. He believes there is no evidence of toxicity.
DeBernardo said toxic molds -- spores of which were discovered in a hallway outside a McKinley classroom -- have to grow in very high quantities to cause toxicity.
The school board did not contact parents about whether doctors believe McKinley was safe until Wednesday night -- after parents decided on their own to consult Dr. John Santilli, director of St. Vincent's Medical Center's Division of Allergy and Immunology.
Santilli, who reviewed the state's first report detailing mold spore levels in McKinley, said Monday that the school should be closed.
Kids Getting Sick From School
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/06/05/eveningnews/main511171.shtml
Poor Environmental Conditions Causing A Variety Of Illnesses
FAIRFIELD, Conn., June 5, 2002
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(AP)
Quote
"I felt like something was standing on my chest. My skin was crawling. I had hives and my face was puffed up like a pink."
Portland teacher Janis Ingersole
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(CBS) At McKinley Elementary School in Fairfield, Conn., school's out -- not just for summer, but maybe for good, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Axelrod.
When a number of teachers and kids reported a rash of unexplained symptoms, local allergist Dr. John Santilli, put two and two together. He had testing done for mold in the school.
"They found the typical indoor molds aspergillus, penicillium. But what they found that was significant was stachibotrys," said Santilli. "Once we started getting the testing results back it became obvious that McKinley was not a problem, but a huge problem."
Santilli estimates some 40 to 60 students and staff got sick from the mold. Two cases were serious enough to require hospitalization.
According to town selectmen Ken Flatto, the problem started with some late summer flooding.
"When I went in to clean out materials in a closet, the materials had black mold all over them," said Joellen Lawson.
That cleanup took the 23-year teaching veteran out of the classroom and into the hospital, under the care of Santilli.
"He said my symptoms -- the respiratory symptoms, the neurological, the sensory disturbances that I have been suffering for years were totally consistent with exposure to high levels of mold," she said.
Santilli says he has a dozen kids and teachers homebound. "I won't let them go back to school."
Stories like Lawson's become even more alarming when one realizes some 14 million American children attend schools with poor environmental conditions. In the last decade the rate of allergic disease -- like asthma -- has doubled in the nation's classrooms. Many say that's also the place to look for the cause.
In Portland, Ore., parents started asking questions when students and teachers at Whitaker Middle School started complaining of fatigue, head aches and flu-like symptoms.
Said teacher Janis Ingersole, "I felt like something was standing on my chest. My skin was crawling. I had hives and my face was puffed up like a pink."
When the school was tested, what was first thought to be radon turned out to be mold. Leaks from an old, poorly maintained, drainage system caused flooding. The flooding spawned mold.
"How many more teachers have to get sick before people realize this is a serious public issue?" asks Lawson. She is now pushing Connecticut legislators to enact new air quality standards in state classrooms.
"Children should not have to attend school where they are going to acquire a life-long illness."
Joellen Lawson is making the dangers of mold her last lesson -- now that it's left her unable to teach anything else.
© MMII, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Statement of (Teacher) Joellen Lawson, Fairfield, CT
http://epw.senate.gov/107th/Lawson_100102.htm
Statement of Joellen Lawson, Fairfield, CT Made to US Senate Committe on Environment & Public Works , 107th Congress, about working in a moldy school and its devastating impact on her own health, as well as the health of others at the school.
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Lawson's McKinley Elementary School - Dr. Santilli's Presentation
http://www.moldallergy.com/Allergy%20Presentation%20McKinley_SM_files/frame.htm
This is a Powerpoint presentation by Dr. John Santilli, Allergist, Bridgeport, CT, of the testing that occurred at McKinley Elementary School, the place where Joellen Lawson and many others became ill due to mold exposure. This author would like to point out that the use of the term "mold allergy" would imply that mold is not able to harm those who are not allergic. However, other studies have shown that mycotoxins DO harm cells in allergic and non-allergic victims.
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http://www.moldallergy.com/presentation/New_Envior_Hazard.pdf
"Fungal Contamination of Elementary Schools: A New Environmental Hazard" by John Santilli, MD, and William Rockwell, MD
This study evaluates the health effects of mold contaminated schools on teachers and students. http://www.moldallergy.com/Allergy%20Presentation%20McKinley_SM_files/frame.htm provides the Powerpoint Slides for this presentation.
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http://www.moldallergy.com/presentation/AL02-6-1-04.pdf
Health Effects of Mold (a scientific paper)
by: John Santilli, MD Address 4675 Main Street, Bridgeport, CT 06606, USA. E-mail:
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This paper profiles the impact of mold exposure on the health of students, teachers, and staff in two public elementary schools in Connecticut, and explains how the air quality in each school was tested, and how the health of teachers and students was assessed. It also proposes standards for testing indoor air quality and evaluating the health impact of indoor mold exposure on students, teachers, and staff members. Current Allergy and Asthma Reports 2002, 2:460–467 Current Science Inc. ISSN 1529-7322 Copyright © 2002 by Current Science Inc.
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