Student-led research project helping Hartford City with public health concerns

Tori Hoffman and Megan Peek have never seen the movie “Erin Brockovich,” but they have been compared to Julia Roberts’ Academy Award-winning characterization. That may be an overstatement, but the Purdue University Fort Wayne seniors have certainly learned what it is like to become engaged with a local community to address public health issues.

Sherrie Steiner, associate professor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, lit the fire for Hoffman and Peek and inspired their futures. When she came to campus in 2014, Steiner started a research project studying public health concerns in Hartford City and Blackford County with various students working on the project before graduating. Hoffman and Peek are the current team leads with contributions from Hailey Brenneman, Kira Creech, Elizabeth Mann, and Hannah Richendollar. 

Hoffman and Peek highlighted the work as part of PFW’s recent 26th annual Student Research and Creative Endeavor Symposium. Both started their college careers studying other disciplines before taking a class with Steiner to fulfill requirements, and then deciding to practice public sociology.

“I’m a fairly empathetic person, and I wanted to help somebody no matter who it was,” Peek said. “I think sociology can be kind of depressing at times because you are studying all of these issues, and you are studying them over and over, but you aren’t really doing anything about it. This is my first time being able to take my knowledge and help somebody with it, and that feels really good.”

Their part of the Hartford City project started with Hoffman joining Steiner in field research, collecting data using an iPad for an online survey over the summer. They canvassed more than 90% of the city’s homes.  More than 280 people from Blackford County participated, and of those, 267 provided qualitative comments to a pair of open-ended questions. 

“There are cancer clusters in the community, and there is an industrial history there, so the research question explores whether there might be a connection between cancer and the exposure to legacy pollution,” Steiner said.

Hoffman and Peek did qualitative analysis of the responses where participants talked about their public health concerns.

“A lot of the people we talked to would mention the cancer history in their family or tell us how they don’t drink the water,” Hoffman said. “They told us their worries, and we identified some feasible ways to address their concerns. This is what you told us about, and here are some possible solutions you can do to make your community a better place.”

The researchers partnered with Blackford County Concerned Citizens and Purdue faculty in West Lafayette. The result is a 36-page draft where the most-mentioned concerns were cancer, water, drugs, obesity, smoking, air pollution, and ground pollution.

“Right at the beginning, in February 2022, we had a meeting with the community where they could raise concerns, and based on those, that’s how we came up with the initial survey,” Hoffman said. “Throughout the study, we’ve been engaging with the community because we believe the best outcome we can have, especially with the public health plan, is based on engagement between them and us.”

The draft’s recommendations include revamping the Blackford County website to display a county-wide emergency alert plan so residents know how to use a phone texting alert system. The research group is also using money from a Purdue Community Service/Service Learning Grant to donate 100 garbage cans, which the county does not provide, for use in low-income neighborhoods in Hartford City and Montpelier. Another part of the grant is being used to purchase a magnetic roller that parks department officials can use to pick up needles from grass in both municipalities.

Essentially, the research did something the community could not do for itself.

“It’s very relevant in 2023 because of all the issues we are seeing,” Peek said. “Society interacts with the environment every day, and the environment interacts with us and changes our lives every day. To me, it was definitely an important topic to talk on.”

Steiner said there is already significant interest from Blackford County residents in seeing the report. After another public meeting on May 6, Hoffman and Peek’s part of the project will be completed. The final report will be presented in the fall.

“It was really eye-opening to hear people say, ‘Ok, this is someone we can trust with this information, and this person is actually going to do something with it,’” Hoffman said. “It was hard to listen sometimes to people saying how many family members have cancer and how they don’t drink the water. It was awesome to see our hard work put into words.”