Can a photograph help a community grow? One photographer is shedding some light on ongoing efforts in a region looking for some new ways to sustain itself.
*The music in this story comes from Kai Engle.
Rebecca Kiger is a documentary and portrait photographer raised in West Virginia. The images she captures are often exceptionally emotionally evocative. She says it takes a lot of patience, and a little faith in both her process and her subjects.
“You have to imagine anything’s possible,” Kiger said while mousing over some of her recent images at her studio in Wheeling, West Virginia. “It allows these magical things to happen in the frame.”
Kiger went south in West Virginia this year to document new development projects in some of the communities hardest hit by the economic downturn in the coal industry. She focused on light and relationships to capture what she said was a hopeful scene.
“Photography is painting with light basically,” Kiger explained. “I’m looking for lighting and once I have that, I’m trying to figure out how and I’m going to frame. Then the question I always ask: Why are you doing this?”
Credit Rebecca Kiger
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“Photography is painting with light basically,” Kiger explained. “I’m looking for lighting and once I have that, I’m trying to figure out how and I’m going to frame. Then the question I always ask: Why are you doing this?”
Kiger says even more than she loves photography, she loves people. What motivates her to capture compelling imagery is the desire to tell their stories. To find out if she hit her mark, we asked some of her subjects.
“Captures the Moment”
“Captures the moment, doesn’t it?” Danny Ferguson asked Jacob Dyer as they first glanced through a book of Kiger’s photos. Ferguson is Dyer’s mentor at the Coalfield Development Corporation in Huntington, West Virginia. The two are looking at photos Kiger took while they were building a solar power training site in Kanawha County.
“It was a rough day that day, we was behind the gun,” Ferguson remembered.
Credit Rebecca Kiger
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“It was a rough day that day, we was behind the gun,” Ferguson remembered.
He’s Coalfield Development’s Lincoln County crew chief. He explained that in the wake of the ailing coal industry, his organization is working to create diverse, next-generation jobs.
“I grew up in Lincoln County – that’s the whole reason I took this job,” he said. “I’d see all these kids with no possibilities, couldn’t get a job because everywhere they’d apply they’d say they want two to five years experience. Well how you gonna get the experience if no one will hire you?”
Credit Rebecca Kiger
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Danny Ferguson (L) and Jacob Dyer (R). . Ferguson is Dyer’s mentor at the Coalfield Development Corporation in Huntington, West Virginia.
Teaching young people from the region like Jacob Dyer how to work with and install solar panels is one way Coalfield Development is hoping to support a more diverse economy.
“I’d prefer to stay here,” Dyer said, “stay home and be around my family. And help the economy, you know?”
Ferguson pointed to a black and white portrait of Jacob’s face. “That one picture says ‘Jacob.’ I’ve worked with him for a year and I’ve learned a lot about him,” he said. “That’s amazing. That’s what I would call a ‘wall-hanger.’”
Ferguson said while working, they barely noticed Rebecca Kiger. But he does remember talking with her during lunch.
“She was trying to find out more and she took what she found out and actually said it in a picture. To me, that’s amazing.”
Hopeful Outlook
Credit Rebecca Kiger
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Jacob Dyer of Coalfield Development Corp.
“I probably listened to and shared more than I ever have on any other assignment,” Kiger remembered.
She says she’s grateful for work opportunities that allow her to put social media down and connect to people of all philosophies and backgrounds.
“I felt hopeful after listening to them talk about ways that they can transform communities and build communities up. I loved every minute of it. I hope the pictures I take will bring more attention to their efforts so that they can grow,” Kiger said.
The photos Kiger took were commissioned by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation – a charitable nonprofit that funds economic development projects in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. The title of the latest annual report, which Kiger was hired to help illustrate: Aspire. Invest. Prosper. Transitioning to West Virginia’s New Economy.
A study released this week highlights how 6 million Americans are living with drinking water that’s laced with toxic chemicals. Coupled with that report – another study that shows how those chemicals suppress the immune system – especially among children.
Something in the Drinking Water
The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health published research in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters that delved into thousands of drinking water samples from across the nation. Researchers looked for certain chemicals – called “perfluorinated” chemicals – which are linked to cancer and other health problems. These are common household chemicals that have been in use for decades in food wrappers, clothing, and on carpets and nonstick pots and pans. Researchers noted where concentrations were highest, and what possible sources of contamination exist.
“We found that water supplies close to industrial production facilities, military fire training areas, airports certified to use firefighting foams that contain perfluorinated chemicals, and wastewater treatment plants were more likely to have detectable levels of perfluorinated chemicals,” said one of the study’s authors, Laurel Schaider, PhD, from the Silent Spring Institute.
Contaminated water supplies were found in 33 states but were most prevalent in 13 states serving 6 million people: California, New Jersey, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Georgia, Minnesota, Arizona, Massachusetts and Illinois.
But those numbers might not reflect reality, according to researchers.
In a press release, lead author Xindi Hu, a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard Chan School and Environmental Science and Engineering at SEAS said: “The actual number of people exposed may be even higher than our study found, because government data for levels of these compounds in drinking water is lacking for almost a third of the U.S. population—about 100 million people.”
The Ohio Valley Legacy
Chemicals were also detectable in Kentucky as well as in Ohio and West Virginia where a decade ago, one of the first known areas of contamination was discovered.
In 2005 it came to light that the chemical company DuPont contaminated water sources in the Ohio Valley with a perfluorinated chemical called PFOA or c8. A lawsuit established a broad medical study of affected residents, which Schaider says paved the way for further science.
"Engineers have already estimated it's going to take 200 years of filtration to get [C8] out of the water," said Vienna resident, Dr. Paul Brooks.
“A lot of what we know about the human health effects of PFOA come from the Ohio River Valley and the C8 Study where over 30,000 community members were involved in a health study,” Schaider said, “and the results showed that there were 6 health effects that were linked to their PFOA exposure.”
Kidney and testicular cancer, pregnancy-induced hypertension, and thyroid disease are some of the maladies that were linked to exposure of PFOA.
In Vienna, West Virginia, residents like Paul Brooks, MD, have been living for decades with c8 levels in their drinking water above EPA’s long term exposure health advisory. When EPA announced the advisory this summer, construction began soon after to add filters to the water system. Brooks still doesn’t trust the water or the EPA’s advisory.
Brooks is a physician who helped set up the original C8 study in the area, drawing samples and taking health surveys from thousands of Ohio Valley residents.
“And with as much saturation as we have here in the environment,” Brooks said, “engineers have already estimated it’s going to take 200 years of filtration to get it out of the water.”
Brooks said health effects have been documented at levels lower than the EPA’s recommended standard. And for those with chronic exposure, he worries about the effects of bio-accumulating the chemical. Brooks uses an activated carbon filter in his home – which does filter out PFOA. Brooks says every drop of water in the region needs to be filtered.
A Long Term Study of Children’s Immune Responses
The second Harvard study released today builds on the C8 Study from the Ohio Valley, as well as a growing body of health research.
The study was led by Philippe Grandjean, MD, DMSc., who has become one of the foremost experts on health effects of these chemicals. His study looks at long term effects of perfluorinated chemicals on the immune systems of exposed children. He explains it takes years to pass the chemicals out of your system.
“They stay in the body for a long time,” Grandjean explained, “therefore it’s also plausible – while they harm the immune system today – they probably also will down the road. And that’s exactly what we found.”
Seven years ago the federal Environmental Protection Agency issued a health advisory for anyone with short term exposure to PFOA. Then in May, a long-term health advisory was announced. Towns across the country in states like Vermont, Alabama, Michigan and West Virginia are all adjusting water systems to meet the new suggested threshold. Grandjean said the EPA’s advisory is a step in the right direction, but more action is required.
“The new water limits will essentially maintain status quo or if worse comes to worse, actually increase levels that are typical for Americans” Grandjean said. “If you drink that a lot of that water that is permissible, many Americans are likely to increase their body burden.”
Reducing Your Exposure
One of the Harvard report’s authors, Laurel Schaider pointed out that drinking water is only one exposure path for these chemicals. She said filtering water is an important and effective way to protect yourself – but there are other thoughts to consider as well:
Avoid stain-resistant carpents and upholstery
Avoid “perfluor-“, “polyfluor-“, “PTFE” on labels
Select cast iron or enamel cookware
Eat more fresh foods to avoid fast food packaging
Minimize contact with fluorinated ski waxes
Ask yourself, do I need this product to have fluorinated chemicals?
As the opioid epidemic continues to plague the Ohio Valley with addiction and death, the search for safer methods of pain management has become increasingly urgent.
Advocates for medical marijuana have recently made inroads in the area with growing scientific evidence that the substance currently considered of no medical value by the federal government might be a tool to wean those suffering from chronic pain off of more dangerous drugs.
Credit Alexandra Kanik / Ohio Valley ReSource
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Ohio Valley ReSource
In Ohio, Gov. John Kasich signed legislation last month that will make Ohio the twenty-fifth state with medical marijuana. Legislators in Kentucky recently held the first committee hearing to discuss crafting a similar bill.
Part of the hope behind such proposals is to offer a safer alternative for chronic pain patients, who are often prescribed opioids. State health data show that in Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia, opioids were involved in at least 3,373 overdose deaths in 2014, the most recent year for which figures are available. The Centers for Disease Control found that in 2014 the three states were among the five states with the nation’s highest rates of drug overdose deaths, largely driven by opioids.
The continuing debate is over whether there’s scientific evidence to back up that hope or if it’s just a pipedream.
A Safer Treatment
Joe Brumfield was 23 years old when he was diagnosed with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, a disease which will make moving around progressively more painful.
To help manage the pain he was prescribed methadone, an opioid typically associated with treating addiction that can still result in a fatal overdose if misused.
He took the medication cautiously, fearing the rise in addiction and death tied to it, and soon after sought a safer alternative.
“Why am I putting my own health at risk, along with my family’s health, by taking these prescription medications when there’s a healthier, natural alternative?” Brumfield said.
Marijuana — or cannabis, as Brumfield and other advocates prefer to call it — was the alternative he chose. After years of personal research and use, he claims he was able to manage his symptoms while dialing back on the medications he considered risky.
“I was able to get off of three medicines,” he said. “The valium, the anti-inflammatory drugs and I was able to cut my pain medication dose in half.”
Brumfield, now 36, lives with his wife and daughter in Athens County, Ohio, and works as an artist.
He also works alongside advocates around the state and country who believe medical cannabis can help others wean off of opioids and be another tool in ending the epidemic.
A Search For Evidence
The scientific literature on medical marijuana deterring opioid abuse is thin. But recent research offers some support for Brumfield’s story.
One of the first study proponents point to was published in the October 2014 edition of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association. Analysing the CDC’s death certificate data from when California enacted the country’s first medical marijuana law through 2010, researchers suggested states with medical marijuana laws averaged around 25 percent fewer fatal overdoses than if it did not have such legislation.
Dr. Marcus Bachhuber was lead author of that study and is an Assistant Medical Professor at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. He said the main point was to begin a broader conversation about treating pain.
“We were advocating for future research,” Bachuber said. “Looking at it for more years of data, looking at it in different ways by different groups of researchers to see if our findings held over time.”
Researchers picked up the proverbial ball and in July, 2015, the National Bureau of Economic Research put Bachhuber’s data to work. The NBER analysis found states with medical marijuana laws saw as much as a 35 percent drop in substance abuse treatment admissions and a 31 percent reduction in opioid overdoses.
However, expanding on the Bachhuber team’s finding, the study suggested the results were only possible if the state had legally protected dispensaries, implying that medical marijuana laws on their own are not enough.
More recently, a couple of studies have looked at opioid dosage and prescription numbers in states with medical marijuana laws.
A study from June’s Journal of Pain concluded cannabis use was “associated with 64% lower opioid use in patients with chronic pain” in Michigan. In this month’s Health Affairs, researchers looked at prescriptions filled for Medicare Part D enrollees from 2010 to 2013 and found that prescriptions for medications in which marijuana could serve as an alternative “fell slightly” in states with medical marijuana laws.
The latter two studies get at an aspect of the opioid epidemic that may not be at the forefront of the debate, according to Bachhuber.
“It’s not necessarily about clamping down on opioids as it may be about offering a wide variety of pain treatment and letting people choose safer options,” he said.
Ohio Becomes #25
Getting people off opioids was part of the argument which helped Ohio’s medical marijuana bill pass. However, the bill’s lead sponsor urged people to not have unrealistic expectations.
“I don’t believe everybody is going to get off narcotics and get on medical marijuana,” Rep. Steve Huffman (R-District 80) said. “But I think it may be the right thing for certain people in a certain way.”
Credit Aaron Payne / Ohio Valley ReSource
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Ohio Valley ReSource
Ohio Republican lawmaker Steve Huffman chaired a committee on medical marijuana.
The first-term lawmaker never anticipated leading the charge for medical marijuana in his first term — or ever for that matter. But once tasked with leading a House committee on the topic, he found himself advocating for patient choice and talking with those opposed to the measure
The Ohio State Medical Association was one such group against the proposed legislation. The leadership’s concern was for the physicians they represent throughout the state dealing with a substance lacking FDA approval.
“We’re not completely comfortable with what sort of impact it may have from a medicinal standpoint on patients,” Reggie Fields, the association’s Communication and External Affairs Director said.
The organization became more comfortable with the bill only after certain safeguards were included, such as bans on smoking and home growing, and a provision that limits recommendations for marijuana use to certified physicians with an ongoing patient relationship.
A mandate in the bill for the General Assembly to formally call on the federal government to reschedule marijuana from a Schedule I controlled substance to schedule two also intrigued the OSMA. If marijuana was reclassified to a Schedule II designation, less restrictive research could be conducted and the FDA would have permission to determine if it can be approved as medicine.
Huffman said he understands where the physicians are coming from. He’s an emergency room physician himself and does not anticipate being certified to recommend medical marijuana. However, as a lawmaker, he said medical marijuana is something citizens wanted.
He also believes the legislation is a better alternative than the less restrictive plan proposed as a ballot initiative. The group Ohioans for Medical Marijuana,, which had been pushing the initiative, suspended its campaign after the bill was passed.
“We’ll see how it plays out over the next year to 18 months,” Huffman said. “But I think it’s going to be ultimately the best for the patient and for all the citizens in the state of Ohio.”
More State Interest
Several states have marijuana ballot initiatives and legislation pending. Kentucky lawmakers are just beginning the debate on whether to draft legislation.
An interim joint committee heard from both sides of the debate during a hearing July 8 at the State Capitol.
The opposition’s arguments focused on the uncertainty over the complexity of medical marijuana — and how the “cannabinoids” within interact with receptors naturally in the body — and law enforcement fears that legal marijuana would reach an illegal market.
Proponents pointed to the mounting evidence –both scientific and anecdotal–indicating health benefits for an array of conditions and illnesses, with nearly no evidence suggesting use can result in a fatal overdose.
Proponents might find support from the governor’s office. At a debate at Eastern Kentucky University, then-candidate Matt Bevin said of marijuana that “There is unequivocal medical evidence … that there are benefits for those with cancer and epilepsy. It should be prescribed like any other prescription drug.”
Under the golden dome of West Virginia’s Capitol, medical marijuana laws have been proposed for years but have never made it much further than the introduction. However, the most recent iteration may indicate a growing bipartisan appetite for the idea, as it was sponsored by the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate.
Repealing Prohibition Again
Meanwhile, back in Ohio, it could be early 2018 before patients suffering from an approved condition can purchase cannabis legally at a dispensary.
The process of finalizing rules and certifying physicians, growers and dispensaries has proven to take time. In Maryland, licenses have still not been issued after voters approved a ballot initiative in 2014.
Joe Brumfield hopes to be in Ohio’s program, but isn’t sure how his application will go: Muscular dystrophy is not an approved condition, but chronic pain is.
“I will most definitely put myself through the ‘meat grinder’ of the process to be able to see how well this program works when it’s finally set up and how well it would work for people in worse situations or know less about it than I do,” he said.
His continued goal will be advocacy for fellow patients in states affected by the opioid epidemic looking for a safer alternative.
“My hope is that people will start looking at this, looking with new eyes,” he said. “We need to repeal prohibition again.”
