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Natural Awakenings Naples and Fort Myers

Educating Health Professionals About Health Risks of Algae Blooms

by Linda Sechrist

Developing a curriculum for educating local doctors and nurses regarding the public health risks associated with harmful algal blooms found in South Florida waterways is the latest development in the Southwest Florida Clean Water as a Human Right movement. The curriculum being developed by ENT-otolaryngologist and surgeon Dr. Robert Zarranz, in Naples, and Registered Nurse Holley Rauen, in Fort Myers, reflects the cutting-edge research presented by prominent scientists that demonstrated the link between harmful algae exposure and health problems in the Calusa Waterkeeper’s documentary, Troubled Waters. Although the film, which premiered in August, is not yet available for purchase by the general public, the expert live panel discussion, which was filmed at the premier, is available for viewing at YouTube.com/watch?v=vzSgmVwHJQM.

According to Calusa Waterkeeper Board of Directors President Ruth Watkins, the cost of developing the curriculum for an in-service class for physicians and nurses was the subject of a grant proposal submitted to the Southwest Florida Community Foundation (SWFLCF) for the Harmful Algae Blooms and Public Health Assessment Project. “Funding came from The Herbert E. Hussey Memorial Fund, The Lester & Dorothy Charitable Field of Interest Fund and The Fund for the Environment for Southwest Florida,” says Watkins.

“SWFLCF is focused on the region’s long-term sustainability. Given the risks harmful algae blooms pose to our natural resources and ecosystems, tourism and health, the Calusa Waterkeeper’s work is truly an investment in the region’s long-term social, economic and environmental sustainability.  We are excited to partner and walk alongside this group of change-makers,” says Tessa LaSage, SWFLCF Social Innovation and Sustainability director.

Watkins explains that after the curriculum is approved, a class offering CEU’s for nurses and CME’s for doctors will be held in mid- to late October. “Our partner for this project is Lee Health, and while the live program is taking place at their Gulf Coast Medical Center, in Fort Myers, it will simultaneously be broadcasted to their three other medical facilities.

Making healthcare professionals aware of the diagnosis codes is important, due to the need for collecting clinical data for further research. “The range of distance for airborne exposure needs to be determined since the experts and researchers in Troubled Waters speculate that people may not have to live next to the water to be impacted. It’s also important that doctors be aware of the associated symptoms so they not dismiss them as related to colds or allergies when they might be related to exposure to harmful algal blooms,” says John Cassani, Calusa Waterkeeper.

“The class will include some film clips from Toxic Puzzle and Troubled Waters, a power-point presentation and a lecture by Dr. Zarranz. I’m involved with the paperwork as well, helping to pull together the power point images and film clips in addition to taking information from the heady scientific articles and translating them into language that doctors can use to ask their patients the right questions regarding exposure and length of time,” says Rauen. Cofounder of the SWFL Pachamama Alliance, she notes that monthly Game Changers gatherings at the Unitarian Universalist Church, in Fort Myers, will continue to inform the public about SWFL’s ongoing water crisis and effects of climate change.

For more information, call Holley Rauen at 239-464-6556.