Communication Plan

Attachment 5. Pease Study Communication Plan

• Attachment 5a. Pease Study Communication Plan Objectives

• Attachment 5b. Pease Study Overarching Communication Messages

• Attachment 5c. Pease Study Press Release – Launch

• Attachment 5d. Pease Study Website Flyer

• Attachment 5e. Pease Study Public Service Announcement

Attachment 5a.

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)

Pease Study Communication Plan Objectives

Objectives	Activities/Methods	Responsible participant	Timetable	Objectives achieved
Objective 1:
Identify and establish relationship with project stakeholders	Establish and maintain collaborative partnership and alliances with local community groups and civic organizations Develop plan to provide project updates Establish and maintain links with community leaders and elected officials	The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)	Ongoing	Met with community groups, Testing for Pease, and Pease Community Assistance Panel (Pease CAP, established in 2017 per ATSDR guidance) members, as well as with NH DHHS director Dr. Benjamin Chan in May 2018.
			Ongoing	Provided detailed information on planned study (developed research protocol, externally peer reviewed, revised – discussed content and changes).
			After Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval	Received extensive input from the community …. etc. Monthly calls with Pease CAP; meetings 2-3 times a year.

Objective 2:
Develop and present project-related information	Develop study-related information materials, forms, and reports for participants; submit materials, etc., for IRB and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review Describe planned activities for the study at informal meetings in Pease at civic or community clubs or other functions Obtain comments on presenting study information NH DHHS biomonitoring participant, from Pease CAP, community groups, and others Describe project activities at professional scientific meetings	ATSDR, study investigators	Ongoing	IRB and OMB approvals pending.
			After the IRB approval	Set up additional meetings with Pease CAP including representatives from local medical societies, school officials, and elected officials. Set up meetings with NH DHHS director and staff.
Objective 3:
Develop and establish media relations	Study PIs and staff should participate in local radio programs describing planned Pease Study Use contacts from the Pease CAP to contact local press Publish information about upcoming health study Record short video message from the ATSDR director and Pease CAP to introduce the study and encourage participation	Study PIs and co-PIs	Ongoing Ongoing After the OMB approval	Call or meet the press and local radio and television representatives.

Objective 4:
Organize community meeting for former NH DHHS participants and other community members to announce the study	Mail invitation letters and study fact sheet to recruits Organize a public meeting at the appropriate/suitable venue Use Pease CAP and local contacts to distribute material about upcoming meeting to schools, employers, and other stakeholders.	Study PIs, study staff	After OMB approval 2 months after OMB approval	Provide a forum for potential participants to find out more about the study and have study investigators answer questions.

Attachment 5b

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)

Pease Study

Overarching Communications Messages

• ATSDR is conducting the Pease Study:

  • to learn whether per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water might have affected people’s health, and

  • to identify issues that must be addressed prior to starting a future multi-site health study of PFAS-contaminated drinking water.

• The Pease Study will include children aged 4-17 years and adults aged ≥18 years who were exposed to the contaminated drinking water at the Pease International Tradeport in Portsmouth, NH. Persons will be eligible for the study if they worked or attended childcare at the Pease Tradeport prior to the closing of the Haven supply well in May 2014, were exposed in utero or during breastfeeding, or lived in a home near Pease that was served by a PFAS-contaminated private well.

• The Pease Study will also recruit 100 adults and 175 children from the Portsmouth NH area who were never exposed to the PFAS-contaminated drinking water from the Pease Tradeport.

• The Pease Study will determine the participant’s blood levels of PFAS as well as health indicators such as cholesterol levels, liver function, thyroid function and immune function. The participant’s test results will be provided to the participant along with information on how to interpret the results.

• Although the Pease Study will collect information on a variety of health conditions that have been evaluated in other studies of PFAS exposure, this study alone will likely not allow ATSDR to definitively say whether those conditions are related to exposures to PFAS. Nevertheless, the Pease study will provide some evidence for or against associations between these outcomes and PFAS exposures and will add to the scientific literature.  ATSDR is also including these health conditions to test protocols for a future study.

Attachment 5c.

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)

Pease Study

Press Release - Launch

For Immediate Release:

Contact: ATSDR Media Office

770-488-0700

ATSDR launches a health study of adults and children exposed to drinking water contaminated with perfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) at the Pease International Tradeport, Portsmouth, NH.

The Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry (ATSDR) is starting a study to learn whether per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) in drinking water serving the Pease International Tradeport (“Pease”) in Portsmouth, NH might have affected people’s health. The public drinking water system at Pease was contaminated with PFAS from the Haven supply well until the well was closed in May 2014.

The Pease Study will recruit as many as 350 exposed children aged 4-17 years and 1,000 exposed adults aged ≥18 years. The study will also recruit 175 children and 100 adults from the Portsmouth area who were not exposed to PFAS contaminated drinking water. Birth mothers of eligible Portsmouth children cannot have exposure to drinking water from Pease, and no adults in the study can have a history of work exposure to PFAS.

“There is much that is unknown about the health effects of exposures to these chemicals,” said Patrick Breysse, PHD, CIH, Director of ATSDR and the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “The Pease Study will advance the scientific evidence on the toxicity of PFAS and provide some answers to the Pease community exposed to the contaminated drinking water. The study will also provide information that will be useful to ATSDR in planning health studies at other sites with PFAS exposures.”

The study will recruit children and adults who worked or attended childcare at the Pease Tradeport prior to the closing of the Haven supply well in May 2014, were exposed in utero or during breastfeeding, or lived in a home near Pease that was served by a PFAS-contaminated private well. The study will also recruit a comparison group of adults and children who were not exposed to the contaminated drinking water from the Portsmouth area.

Each participant will be asked to provide a blood and a urine sample for analysis of PFAS levels and health indicators such as cholesterol levels, liver function, thyroid function and immune function. The participant’s test results will be provided to the participant along with information on how to interpret the results.

Although the Pease Study will collect information on a variety of health conditions that have been evaluated in other studies of PFAS exposure, this study alone will likely not allow ATSDR to definitively say whether those conditions are related to exposures to PFAS. Nevertheless, the Pease study will provide some evidence for or against associations between these outcomes and PFAS exposures and will add to the scientific literature.  ATSDR is also including these health conditions to test protocols for a future study.

Attachment 5d.

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)

Pease Study

Website Flyer

Pease Study

ATSDR is conducting a health study of children and adults exposed to drinking water contaminated with perfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) at the Pease International Tradeport in Portsmouth, NH (“Pease”).

The purposes of the study are to:

• to learn whether per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water might have affected people’s health, and

• to identify issues that must be addressed prior to starting a future multi-site health study of PFAS-contaminated drinking water.

The Pease Study will recruit as many as 350 exposed children aged 4-17 years and 1,000 exposed adults aged ≥18 years. Persons will be eligible for the study if they worked or attended childcare at the Pease Tradeport prior to the closing of the Haven supply well in May 2014, were exposed in utero or during breastfeeding, or lived in a home near Pease that was served by a PFAS-contaminated private well. The study will also recruit a comparison group of 175 children and 100 adults from the Portsmouth area who were not exposed to PFAS-contaminated drinking water. Birth mothers of eligible Portsmouth children cannot have exposure to drinking water from Pease, and no adults in the study can have a history of work exposure to PFAS.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Why is ATSDR doing the health study at Pease?

ATSDR is conducting a health study to learn whether PFAS in drinking water might have affected people’s health. The drinking water serving Pease was contaminated by the Haven supply well until the well was closed in May 2014. Based on the PFAS levels measured in the Haven well in April and May 2014, the estimated combined levels of two PFAS chemicals in the drinking water, perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), exceeded the US EPA Lifetime Health Advisory Level of 70 parts per trillion.

The purposes of the study are to:

• to learn whether per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water might have affected people’s health, and

• to identify issues that must be addressed prior to starting a future multi-site health study of PFAS-contaminated drinking water.

2. How was the drinking water at Pease contaminated with PFAS?

The source of the PFAS contamination was the use of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), a fire suppressant agent, at the former Pease Air Force Base. AFFF ingredients include PFAS. PFAS migrated from the soil into the ground water at the base and then to the Haven supply well and the two other supply wells serving Pease.

3. Who is eligible for the study?

Children aged 4-17 years and adults aged ≥18 years are eligible for the study if they worked or attended childcare at the Pease Tradeport prior to the closing of the Haven supply well in May 2014, were exposed in utero or during breastfeeding, or lived in a home near Pease that was served by a PFAS-contaminated private well. Exposures to the contaminated drinking water must have occurred on or after January 2004.

The study will recruit a comparison group of 175 children and 100 adults who were not exposed to PFAS-contaminated drinking water, and do not have a history of occupational exposures to PFAS.

Persons with occupational exposures to PFAS (e.g., firefighters who used or trained with AFFF) and children whose mothers were occupationally exposed to PFAS are not eligible for the study. In addition, birth mothers of eligible Portsmouth children cannot have exposure to drinking water from Pease.

4. What is required in order to participate in the study?

Each participant (or the parent of a child participant) must sign a consent form. The consent form describes the study procedures and risks and benefits of participation. The consent form will request permission to obtain a blood and urine sample. These samples will be analyzed for PFAS and for health indicators such as cholesterol levels, liver function, thyroid function and immune function. The participant’s test results will be provided to the participant along with information on how to interpret the results. The consent form will also request that the participant (or parent of the child participant) complete a health and exposure questionnaire. The consent form will ask permission to obtain body measurements (blood pressure, weight, height, waist and hip circumference). The consent form will request permission to obtain the participant’s medical records and the child participant’s special education records (e.g., IEP evaluation report or 504 Plan). Finally, the consent form for children participants will request permission to administer behavioral tests to the child and obtain information from the parent concerning the child’s behaviors.

Attachment 5e.

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)

Pease Study

Public Service Announcement

Did you work or did your child attend day care at the Pease International Tradeport (“Pease”) on or before May 2014? If so, you or your child could be eligible to participate in a study assessing the health effects of exposures to drinking water contaminated with perfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) at Pease. The Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry (ATSDR) is conducting the Pease Study.

The study includes children aged 4-17 years and adults aged ≥18 years who were exposed to the contaminated drinking water at Pease. A comparison group will be recruited from the Portsmouth area who were not exposed to the contaminated drinking water at Pease.

Each participant will be asked to complete a questionnaire and provide a blood sample to test for PFAS levels as well as health indicators such as cholesterol levels, liver function, thyroid function and immune function. Test results will be provided to the participant.

ATSDR is collecting information on a variety of conditions to see if they should be included in a future study.

Additional information on the study is available at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/pfas/