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From January 2001 NASW NEWS Groups led by social workers offer support and act as a clearinghouse. By Corinna Vallianatos, NEWS Staff NASW Montana Chapter Executive Director Colleen Murphy and social worker Jan Schubert of the Community Involvement and Outreach Center in the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund Program are collaborating on ways to mitigate stress associated with the exposure to asbestos in the former mining community of Libby. The vermiculite that was mined in Libby for almost 100 years was contaminated by a form of asbestos called tremolite. More than 200 people have died from the lung diseases of asbestosis, lung cancer or mesothelioma, and many others — ex-miners, their families and even townspeople not directly linked to the mine — are ill. NASW Montana Chapter representatives have attended the training that Schubert and psychiatrist Pam Tucker of the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) stage jointly, using Libby as a pilot site for their Community Psychosocial Stress Project, whose goal is to identify ways to assist communities coping with environmental disasters. As a result of feedback from the community, Schubert and Tucker established a support group to help residents with the emotional fallout of being ill or caring for sick family members and friends and the feelings of betrayal they may harbor against W. R. Grace, the company that owned the mine, and Montana's health department, which ignored the problem. Two local social workers, Anne Martin and Laura Sedler, are facilitating the support groups, which have funding for six months. Literature in Community Healthline, published by St. John's Lutheran Hospital in Libby, identifies responses to stress from asbestos exposure as: overwhelming emotions such as sadness; physical problems such as headaches, shortness of breath or high blood pressure; thinking difficulties such as confusion; and behavioral changes such as decreased work ability or withdrawal from friends and family. Sedler said the support group acts as a clearinghouse for information for its members and as peer support. "One of the most devastating revelations by the members is that many people who have been diagnosed and are dying from cancer have been shunned by the rest of the community, who viewed W. R. Grace as a positive economic influence and blame the victims for bringing bad publicity to Libby," she said. Sick townspeople who brought lawsuits against Grace also are accused of "only being in it for the money." Some positive outcomes from the support group, according to Sedler, are the attempts to end community denial and the activism that has been sparked in some citizens, who finally brought in the press when their attempts to alert county and state officials were in vain. Martin said the support group has so far been dominated by a style of "male grieving," which involves the expression of anger. "The men and women in the support group are also active in the fight against W. R. Grace," she said. "They've got a lot to be angry about." A three-day conference in September planned by Murphy, Schubert and Tucker also provided workshops on the medical and carcinogenic nature of asbestos and on community members' legal rights. Martin and Sedler facilitated a workshop on grief management, and Sedler moderated a panel of asbestos victims, who discussed the impact the disease has had on them and their families and entertained questions from community members. "Libby had suffered economically because of the closing of the mine," said Shubert. "Businesses wanted to promote tourism as an alternate industry, and then the news broke in November in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that the town had been contaminated." She said the community is much like the rest of the country was in the '50s and '60s — mental health stress is not a subject that is much acknowledged. So, coming to terms with the crisis, even with federal government intervention, has been challenging for the citizens of Libby. "Much of the mental health piece focuses on betrayal," said Murphy. "This situation, generations of families dying or ill, could have been prevented. W. R. Grace knew about the hazards of asbestos. They did nothing about it." Neither did county and state agencies, and even the governor of Montana, who grew up in Libby, sat on his hands. But each cited regulatory restrictions to explain why they did not act. Tony Berget, Libby's mayor, said the mine used to spew two tons of asbestos a day into the air before it was closed in 1990. He said there is still vermiculite all over town, in people's gardens and used as insulation for their houses. A recent soil sample revealed tremilite asbestos fibers four times the level recommended by EPA. The number of people affected could continue to grow, since the disease has a long incubation period. ATSDR has been conducting health screenings in Libby, which, according to Murphy, many people are reluctant to participate in, "because finding out you have asbestosis is a death sentence." This is another area — dealing with the fear inherent in being tested for cancer — that social workers Martin and Sedler can help with. The company has offered a medical package that, according to two local doctors and most townspeople, is "unacceptable." The plan would cover the individual's medical expenses only for the last six months of his or her life and would bar the individual from participating in any potential class action lawsuit. According to Schubert, the coupling of social work services and hazardous-materials environmental disasters is a fairly new idea, and it was only by coincidence that she was able to use her training as a social worker on her job at EPA. But, she said, "there is a growing recognition that [situations such as Libby's] are stressful for community and technical staff. Engineers just want to go in and get the job done. We need to educate them about community reactions." Back to NASW NEWS Contents
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