The Columbiana County Well being District has obtained the Ohio Division of Well being Director’s Award for its ongoing response to the East Palestine practice derailment. Pictured are Ohio Division of Well being Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, left, with Columbiana County Well being Director Dr. Wesley Vins. (Submitted picture)

LISBON — The Columbiana County Well being District has obtained the Ohio Division of Well being Director’s Award for its ongoing response to the East Palestine practice derailment. Ohio Division of Well being Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff counseled the district and its employees whereas presenting the award to Columbiana County Well being Commissioner Dr. Wesley J. Vins at this 12 months’s Ohio Public Well being Convention.

The well being district has been concerned in lots of facets of the response together with the event and implementation of the potable water sampling plan that informs sampling for personal water wells within the space and permits the chance for residents who’ve been impacted by the derailment to have their water co-sampled by the well being district and Norfolk Southern without charge. Together with peace of thoughts, this ongoing sampling program has offered a complete of 442 units of ultimate pattern outcomes up to now.

The well being district led state and federal companions in opening and working the non permanent Well being Evaluation Clinic at First Church of Christ in East Palestine.This free clinic offered residents who had well being questions or considerations associated to the derailment the chance to talk with medical and psychological well being professionals. The clinic was open for 28 days and served 338 people.The Columbiana County Well being District additionally initiated the institution of the everlasting Well being Clinic positioned in East Palestine which is now operated by East Liverpool Metropolis Hospital and continues to serve residents with derailment associated well being considerations freed from cost.

“This can be a testomony to our public well being partnership from the native to the federal stage. Companions are our biggest power. Our residents have benefited enormously due to the entire onerous work that the well being district employees and our public well being companions have, and proceed to do,” mentioned Vins when requested what this award meant to the division.

Vins additionally took advocacy for East Palestine residents to Washington, D.C. this March when he testified in a listening to held by the Home Vitality and Commerce Subcommittee on Surroundings. He targeted on neighborhood restoration and the necessity for a long-term personal effectively sampling program to make sure secure ingesting water for properties affected by the derailment.

The Columbiana County Well being District was established in 1919 and achieved nationwide accreditation from the Public Well being Accreditation Board in 2022.

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