Published in the Ocean County Observer
By MARGARET F. BONAFIDE
Staff Writer
TOMS RIVER -- Students at Wagner College find Toms River interesting.
Interesting enough that they have committed to a special course offered at the Staten Island, N.Y., college that takes into perspective what a cancer cluster means and what it does to the people who live in the community where suffering and victory can go hand in hand.
Wagner students will be attending a meeting of the Citizens Action Committee on Childhood Cancer Cluster at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Township Hall, 33 Washington St.
Guest speaker Dr. Dorothy Cantor, a toxicologist with the federal Environmental Protection Agency, will address the testing of the trimer which was found to be in the Toms River water distribution system in the past.
Also at the meeting will be members of the state Department of Health and Senior Services and the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to give an update on the chemical testing as well as an update on the ongoing epidemiological studies, said Linda L. Gillick, who chairs the Citizens Action Committee on Childhood Cancer Cluster and Ocean of Love, a non-profit organization that helps families meet the challenges of childhood cancers.
The students also will begin interviewing families and victims of childhood cancers.
"It is a really great experience," Gillick said. "The students have something that they can relate to. They take home the experience of what they went through" when they have a hands-on experience that goes beyond what a textbook can teach.
"They can put faces to what they are talking about. Having the emotional impact perspective is invaluable."
Published on September 17, 2000
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