State and local officials were on hand Monday to cut the ribbon on a new, permanent health clinic in East Liverpool designed to provide long-term healthcare for those impacted by February’s toxic train derailment in East Palestine.
Operated by East Liverpool City Hospital — with the help of the Ohio Department of Health — the new clinic aims to provide comprehensive care, screening and testing. Unlike the temporary clinics established in the aftermath of the derailment, which only refer patients to care, the permanent clinic at 139 N Walnut St. will also be able to provide treatment and medication.
Gov. Mike DeWine and state health director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said the goal was to open the clinic as soon as possible.
“Under normal circumstances, it can take many months to stand up a primary care practice. What we’re seeing here is the result of a lot of community collaboration,” Vanderhoff said. “We’ll also be able to continue to provide a medical presence of support related to people’s concerns about the train derailment and the events that occurred in February.”
One of the main objectives of the clinic is to provide ongoing care and testing for the hundreds of first responders that rushed to the scene on the night the train derailed. Although officials said none of the first responders have reported any immediate illnesses as a result of the derailment, health officials said the clinic will be able to compile a baseline of their health, allowing physicians to notice any potential long-term effects.
“The people that I have talked to all have a concern of, 'Where am I going to be in a year? Where am I going to be in five years, ten years?'” DeWine said. “Having a clinic back by the hospital, I think, goes a long way in answering that concern. The [remediation] work will continue. The testing will continue. The testing of the water will continue. The testing of the air will continue.”
Although the clinic will initially be funded through public money, DeWine said he expects the state to seek reimbursement from Norfolk Southern, which follows a similar practice the state has used for a litany of other expenses associated with the response and remediation of the derailment.
“As we have asked them every week or every other week for reimbursement, they have been willing to do that and they have, in fact, done that,” DeWine said.
After the grand opening, the governor will head to New Waterford, where plant health inspectors from the Ohio Department of Agriculture will start collecting plant tissue samples from farms for testing.
