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Home > Archive > Feb 14, 2008

By Katrice Schimbeck
Staff Writer
To longtime residents of St. George who are victims of living downwind of nuclear testing in the 50s and 60s, the word “cancer” holds real fear. They are at greater risk for leukemia, lymphomas, and breast and thyroid cancers.
After many legal battles and much legislation, the U.S. government has determined compensation and benefits to those struck with deadly disease from radiation exposure through the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). There are strict guidelines and rules to follow, determining who gets what and why. The Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program (RESEP) clinic at Dixie Regional Medical Center (DRMC) is one of seven facilities set up to screen radiation victims and help them obtain benefits. The clinic will mark its fourth anniversary in March.
Carolyn Rasmussen, RN at the RESEP clinic, said between wind currents, windstorms, rainstorms and whether a person was indoors or outdoors during nuclear testing, there is no way to tell how much radiation exposure a person has had. 
“All the things you read show Washington County on the top of the list and Iron County right behind it,” Rasmussen said of radiation exposure.
A press release from DRMC stated that more than 40,000 people were exposed to radioactive fallout from 1951 to 1958 and July of 1962 during nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site. The DRMC RESEP clinic has now seen more 2,000 patients and served more than 30 percent of the country’s RESEP patients last year. 
Other RESEP clinics are in Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Grand Junction, Phoenix, Montezuma Creek, and the Navajo nation in Northern Arizona. These clinics serve people in Southern Utah and Arizona who are downwinders or former uranium workers.
“Most of our people are downwinders,” Rasmussen said.
The Grand Junction clinic serves mostly former miners and millers of uranium. Those eligible for screening at RESEP clinics are downwinders, Nevada Test site workers, and uranium industry workers during certain years. For screening, oral confirmation that you lived in the area during the affected years is acceptable, but for compensation applicants need documentation.  Parents’ property taxes, school records, letters with postmarks, newspaper articles, or church records are acceptable documentation.
There are several tests patients can expect at the RECEP clinic. The patient starts with a thorough physical, blood and urine tests, a CBC to look for leukemia, skin tests, an examination to determine if there is any blood in the urine or stool, prostate exams for men and breast exams for women. Clinic personnel also spend time with each patient, educating the patient on cancer and examining family history for increased risk.
There is some question whether descendents of downwinders are at greater risk for these types of cancer.
“There’s just no good answer,” Rasmussen said. “Nobody is watching the people in this area. The early data from Japan is promising.”
Early post-WWII studies from Japan on radiation victims in Nagasaki and Hiroshima show no increase in the incidence of cancer. However, the children of these victims are just coming to the age where cancers start to show up.
Meanwhile, Becky Barlow, RN and RESEP program director is thankful for the DRMC clinic.
“It’s great to have had the chance to help so many people,” she said.
Dr. Craig Booth is the physician at the clinic. Barlow and Rasmussen are two of only 20 nurses nationwide certified in both pediatric and adult oncology.
“It’s a great program,” Rasmussen said. “It’s sad sometimes when I can’t help people who need and likely deserve my help, but for the most part, it’s been very positive. It’s good education for people.” 
Rasmussen pointed out that it is extremely important to get screened for cancer, if you are at greater risk or not. Utah is one of the lowest states in the nation for screening tests, especially for women’s mammograms and pap-smear tests, she said.
“It’s incredibly important you get your screening exams. It can mean the difference between life and death,” Rasmussen said.
For more information on the RESEP clinic, its programs and qualifications, call  the clinic at 688-5990.

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