Proctor Creek Health Survey identifies potential health concerns
The Proctor Creek Collaborative Health Survey was funded in spring of 2014 as the first community-based pilot study for the HERCULES Center. The pilot project was a product of a strong collaboration between HERCULES investigator, Andrea Winquist, and multiple community partners including ECO-Action, Community Improvement Association, West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, English Avenue Neighborhood Association and others.
The project was completed last fall and a presentation of findings and community discussion held in December. Overall, the team found higher than expected levels of mold with many of the participants not aware that mold was a problem in their residence. Through dust sample testing, they also identified a higher than expected (in comparison with the American Health Homes Survey) measure of water-damage-related mold in homes surveyed. Given the potential health implications of mold, there is strong concern in the community about what can be done to mitigate these exposures.
A few resources for mold concerns were highlighted in the brochure distributed to the community in December including the overall survey results. Additionally, a community forum was led by ECO-Action this summer to discuss survey findings and next steps. The community-based organizations involved are now in the process of determining next steps to follow up on the survey findings.
Read the full brochure and overall findings here.
Results from this study were published in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health, available here.