WRRC 2024 Fall Seminar

October 4, 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Mānoa Campus, Zoom Meeting

Red Hill Registry: A Community-Engaged Approach to Identifying and Addressing Public Health Needs From the 2021 Jet Fuel Spill at Red Hill

by Dr. Catherine Pirkle and Tara H. Sutton

On November 20, 2021, a release of up to 5,542 gallons of JP-5 entered the Red Hill shaft, a key groundwater source for the Navy’s drinking water system, which supplies water to nearly 100,000 people across Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (JBPHH) and neighboring communities in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. Approximately 9,600 households, numerous schools, daycare centers, and workplaces were affected. Jet fuel exposure has been associated in the research literature with an array of significant health conditions. On June 11, 2024, the National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health awarded the UH System a five-year cooperative agreement to establish a Red Hill Independent Health Registry (“Registry”). The goals of the Registry are to: 1) Connect the community to needed services through a referral program; 2) Provide educational programs for healthcare providers and community members; and 3) Track participants’ health status over time and gather information on how fuel exposures may impact health. The Registry will be co-created with the community and the foundation for epidemiological health outcomes studies which are necessary in situations such as those of the Red Hill Incident to fill knowledge gaps and inform treatment plans to meet the needs of the impacted, scientific and medical communities and public at large.

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