me.” What (he Doctors Have Seen Julie Reigle’s fears—like the Hursts’— are for her future. But many people in the Three Mile Island area are experiencing health problems right now, Dr. Joseph Leaser, 46, and Dr. John Barnoski, 32, both have private practices in Middletown. Since March 28, a large number of their patients have had physical and psychological problems clearly resulting from the accident. “At First,” Dr. Leaser said, “most of the patients who came in had gastrointestinal disorders—lots of nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, menstrual disorders.” Those complaints dominated his practice for a week or two after the accident. Since then, “almost any condition a patient has—the unspoken question in the back of their minds is: 'Can this be related to Three Mile Island?’ For example, there’s been a lot of talk about the thyroid because of all the radiated iodine in the air. So anything connected with the mouth or the throat has people uptight. If they have an ulcer in their mouth, or a sore throat, or if they feel any kind of glandular swelling they get concerned. “The frustrating thing is that we really don’t know how much radiation was released, especially between a half-mile and a mile of Three Mile Island. So we can’t tell people whether their symptoms are physical or psychosomatic. There has been so little written or researched about the effects of low-level radiation over a long period of time that we have very few guidelines to go by. We just can’t tell patients what to expect.” Middletown has never been a place where many people took sleeping pills. Dr. Leaser says. Now it’s common for people to come in with complaints about nightmares or insomnia—and to request a medication that will remedy those problems. “They’ll talk about it openly, too— they’ll say, 'I really hit the Valium scene this week.’ “We’ve been seeing another unusual thing. A lot of people are describing purposeless, nondirected behavior. They have things to do, but they just can’t do them, So they’ll carry clothed from the bedroom to the dining room to the kitchen, or they’ll move dishes aimlessly back and forth.” The accident uprooted them from their routines, he said. It make some of them wonder if they wanted to stay in the area— where they’d expected to live forever. It undermined the ordered, structured routines of their lives. One morning in May, 1 asked Dr. Barnoski to describe the Three Mile Island- related cases he’d had the previous day. “A 25-year-old girl came in. She said she was nervous and she needed help. Her stomach got upset whenever she tried to eat. As we talked, 1 realized that she constantly dwelled on Three Mile Island. She was terrified that she’d been affected by the accident. “Another mother came in to complain that she couldn’t sleep. She was afraid that if she dozed off she wouldn’t be able to hear the sirens going off, warning people to evacuate. She didn’t want her family to be trapped in a meltdown. "I had a call from a woman who is four months pregnant. She wants to know if Three Mile Island is cause for an abortion. Another guy called me and asked if it was safe for his wife to get pregnant. “Yesterday afternoon, a woman came in whose son had just broken out in a rash. She had gone to Harrisburg to attend a speech by Dr. Carl Johnson, a radiologist from Colorado. She asked him about her boy. He said that the rash might possibly be related to the beta emission that has been leaking from the containment. The next day she called Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Research, but they wouldn’t help her out. They said she’d have to go to a specialist in Philadelphia, and that the visit would cost $200. So she turned to me. “ I had to tel! I don’t really know much about beta emissions. I don’t want to terrify people like her, but I don't want to give them unrealistic comfort. It’s a terrible position to be in.” Alice Etters: An Overdose of Radiation Alice and Harvey Etters, both in their fifties, have lived six-tenths of a mile from Three Mile Island for the past 25 years. They built their stone house on the banks of the Susquehanna when the island was still a resort—with people Fishing and boating, full of families picnicking near the summer cottages on the land that Met Ed was just then beginning to buy. On March 30, Alice and Harvey Etters waited until they heard about the hydrogen bubble on the It p.m. news. Then they drove through the soft spring afternoon to Alice’s sister’s house in Rome, New York. They returned in time to observe Palm Sunday at the nearby Mennonite church whose gentle, fundamentalist creed has given them such a strong sense of security in the last few years. In mid-April, Met Ed decided to provide local people with a body-scanning machine, to see if anyone in the area had received an overdose of radiation. The utility did so with several stipulations. Only one member of a family could be scanned. The machine would be located in Middletown. That meant people in Goldsboro and the town of Etters—on the opposite side of the river—would have to make a half-hour drive to use the device. In the end, just 721 of the approximately 30,000 people who live within three miles of the power plant were scanned. Alice Etters and her sister Greta McKinney, who lives next door, were two of them. When they emerged from the coffinlike machine, a doctor read their print-outs and told them they were Fine. Then the results were sent to California, for more study. A week later. Alice Etters recalls, “ I came home with my groceries. Greta came in the door. She said. ‘Alice, did you get the phone call?' She was as white as a sheet. And I thought, ‘Oh. no, don’t tell me something has happened in my family.' I've gotten a lot of phone calls about people dying. But she said, ‘You remember when we got scanned? Well, Dr. Gotchy |a senior radiation biologist for the NRC] called today and said that you and I—our scanning came out 10 times higher than normal,’ “ I was standing there—and it just felt like everything went foof. I don’t even know what I did with my groceries. “Just then. Dr. Gotchy called me with the same news he had given Greta—except he said there were nine people with high readings. I asked, ‘Well, what do we do now?' ‘It’s nothing to worry about,' he said. ‘It was caused by natural causes—maybe by the stone in your house.' 1 thought to myself, ‘Well, Greta lives in a brick house so that can’t be true.’ But I said to him, ‘Why did you call us if there’s nothing to worry about?’ He answered, ‘Well, there’s nothing to be concerned about. 1wouldn't PSU Film Committee Fall Schedule OCTOBER 5 FRIDAY Stormy Weather (1943) 7 p.m. Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, and Fats Waller. Professor Andries Deinum who worked on the filmand knows where all the bodies are buried will preface the screening with background on the production. Death of a Gunfighter (1969) 6:45 p.m. Lena Horne and Richard Widmark star in this Don Siegel soap opera with horses. 6 Saturday Life of Oharu (1952) 7 p.m. The films of the Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi are remarkable for their special insight into the social conditions of women. Set at the turn of the 18th Century, the film paints a vast aqnd intricate canvas of feudal Japan, Sisters of Gion (1936) 9:25 p.m. Mizoguchi pinpoints the situation of women in Japan through the plight of two geisha sisters. One is modern in outlook, the other quite traditional. 12 Friday Emperor Jones (1933) 7:00 p.m. This film introduced Paul Robeson to the screen in the role of the blustering, arrogant Brutus Jones, a Pullman porter who became King of Haiti. Sanders of the River (1935) 8:30 p.m. Another rare Robeson film. 13 Saturday A Geisha (1953) 7:00 p.m. Mizoguchi’s most definitive treatment of the subject of prostitution. Princess Yang Kwei Fei (1955) 8:40 p.m. One of the most beautiful love stories ever filmed. 19 Friday Jericho (1937) 7 p.m. Robeson lives the high life of a sheik King Solomon’s Mines (1937) 8:30 p.m. High adventure. 20 Saturday My Love Has been Burning (1949) 7 p.m. 1880’s Liberalism and Feminism in Japan. Utamaro and His Five Women (1946) 8:35 p.m. Embellished account of the great Japanese printmaker. 26 Friday Song of Freedom (1937) 7 p.m. Paul Robeson as opera singer longing for Africa. The Proud Valley (1937) 8:25 p.m. Robeson working in Welsh mining town. 27 Saturday The Crucified Lovers (1959) 1 p.m. & 7 p.m. Shy scroll master falls in love with his master's wife. Tales of Taira Clan (1955) 3 p.m. & 8:50 p.m. 12th Century Japan’s feudal battles. November 2 Friday Accatone (1961) 7 p.m. Pasolini's first film is an evocation of slum life. Theorems (1969) 9:15 p.m. Terence Stamp and Silvana Mangano star in this engrossing allegory. Saturdays in November —FREE showings of the fine television films of Roberto Rossellini. 3 Saturday Socrates (1970) 7 p.m. Cosimo de Medici (1973) 9:30 p.m. 4 Sunday An Evening with the Animation Collective — 30 films by local artists. 9 Friday Hawks and Sparrows &1965) 7 p.m. Pasolini’s critique of contemporary Italy. Pigpen (1970) 8:45 p.m. Three allegorical stories by Pasonini 10 Saturday Augustine of Hippo (1970) 7 p.m. Rossellini focuses on the moral force of St. Augustine’s life. The Power of Cosimo (1973) 9:30 p.m. The flowering of 1434 Florence. 16 Friday Medea (1971) 7 & 9 p.m. Pasolini takes on the classic tale. PSU Film Committee Place: 75 Lincoln Hall (Lower Level) Market and Broadway Admission: Students and Senior Citizens — $1.00 All others — $1.50 12 Saturday Rise of Louis XIV (1966) 7 p.m. The rise to power of a man and an era. Leon Battista Alberti (1973) 9 p.m. Rossellini looks at the age of Medici. 30 Friday The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964) 7 p.m. A modern interpretation of the Evangelists text. DECEMBER 1 Saturday Blaise Pascal (1972) 7 & 9:45 p.m. A study of the 17th Century scientist and religious philosopher. 31
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz