|
[ printer-friendly version
]
|
|
|
Nanette Skiba, ambulatory representative
in Neurology, cross-country skied into work from her
home in Jamaica Plain on Feb. 18, after the Presidents’
Day storm dumped 27 inches of snow on Boston.
|
|
 n
impressive new project has come out of the Department of Neurology.
It receives no funding, it isn’t run by doctors, nurses or
technical specialists, and it isn’t even affiliated with Children’s.
But Nanette Skiba says her administrative
job on the Neurology unit inspired her to create an environmental
and public health awareness project called ANGELS, or Alliance of
Neighborhoods for Greater Environmental Living Standards.
Skiba has long been passionate about the issue of environmental
neurotoxins—chemicals found in pesticides and pollutants that
can damage the human nervous system. She is not a medical professional,
but her work in Neurology has given her a close-up view of children
with neurological disorders—some of whom have problems connected
to environmental factors. “The care that Children’s provides
addresses an important side of the problem: treatment. But I am
interested in a dialogue about the effects of chemicals on children’s
health.”
To bring that dialogue to the community, Skiba has partnered
with the Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester and Spontaneous
Celebrations, an artist community organization in Jamaica Plain,
to show films on environmental health. The Feb. 21 screening of
“Kids and Chemicals” drew dozens of parents to the Codman
Square health center and sparked a lively discussion about the use
of pesticides in Boston communities. For past film screenings, Skiba
has lined up guest speakers such as Joseph Regna, MD, a medical
toxicologist with the Society for Risk Assessment.
She has spent hundreds of dollars of her own money making
the film series a reality, and hopes to secure funding and get others
in the Children’s community involved. “There’s so
much knowledge here, but a lot of it gets buried in scientific journals
and stays within the medical community.” Skiba says her goal
is to make environmental health information more accessible to ordinary
families.
Her interest in film and public health is not limited
to community organizing. She is also writing a screenplay about
an HIV-positive woman and her relationships. The project has occupied
two years of Skiba’s spare time, and she spent the last week
of February on a “vacation” dedicated to working on the
script. “I’m writing a screenplay because I have stories
to tell,” she says.“And because I stink at writing novels.”
Both the screenplay and the environmental health project
have required Skiba to do a lot of research. Fortunately, she works
at the right place. “Dr. Alan Levitan has provided me with
statistical reports and information about the social implications
of patient care, and [hospital librarian] Alison Clapp has been
very helpful,” Skiba says. “There are so many people at
Children’s with something to share.”—CM
For more information on ANGELS of Boston, e-mail Nanette
Skiba.
|
