by dmeglio in Announcements, Environment and Open Space, Investigative Reports, Neighborhoods and Squares, Public Health & Safety, Tufts
Posted on August 24, 2009 at 11:20 am
Last Modified on August 27, 2009 at 6:46 pm
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As many of you may be aware, STEP and Tufts University have come together in a community partnership to form CAFEH (the Community Assessment of Freeway Exposure). We have just begun a year long study to learn whether living very near major highways poses health concerns for residents’ health. I am writing to ask for your help.
The neighborhoods adjacent to I-93 and Routes 28 and 38 included in the study are parts of East Somerville, Ten Hills and the Mystic Housing. However there is one other neighborhood, while not close to the highway is also part of our study. This is the Kidder Street neighborhood over by the Brown School. This neighborhood is our background control area which is very important for us to be able to draw some conclusions between near and far exposures. Over the past several weeks, members of our field staff team have been there attempting to visit with potential participants in this neighborhood drawing from the random sample. However we have found it a bit challenging. While we have tried many different times of the day and evening, we have not been able to find many people home. I am hoping that through this venue, and any others that you might suggest, we can get the word out to neighborhood folks and encourage their participation. Please let your neighbors know about this important study. If chosen, residents will be provided a gift card for their participation that will be redeemable at Marketbasket.
If you are interested in getting more information about our study, you can go to the CAFEH website at www.tufts.edu/med/phfm/CAFEH/CAFEH.html. or you can call us at 617-636-2110. Thanks for your help…it’s much appreciated.
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This project is great because our air quality and community health are important things to monitor and protect.
Maybe those residents were just on vacation? You might have better luck after Labor Day. I’d suggest leaving flyers at doors and near mailboxes to try to reach people who aren’t home when you visit. Also, try looking them up in the phone book and calling them at different times.
Best of luck!
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Try posting flyers in the laundromats and coffee shops in Ball Square too.
I might live in and/or have friends and neighbors in the Kidder St neighborhood, depending on exactly how your study defines the boundaries.
I clicked on the link above but did not see any obvious call for participants or forms to sign up to participate in the study. If you want more participants, you need to make that very clear and make it very easy for people to sign up.
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Thanks julia for the feedback…
Laundromats and coffee shops are a great places for leaflets. I should have thought of that:( Thank you.
In regards to seeking participants..the study sample was generated randomly using a number of infomational data bases that gave us all the possible participants in the four neighborhoods. Having constructed the study this way, we have not been seeking volunteers to participant in the study. That is why you didn’t find a place to sign up for the study at our website. However that might change in the future.
My goal in asking for help was to raise the awareness of the study and to encourage those selected to participate. The more information we get out into the community, the greater the likelihood we will connect with someone who was selected.
I think your suggestions are great and will act on them. ..and please note that if you or anyone else have other suggestions I would be most grateful to hear them.
Thanks..
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Hey Don,
Also, besides vacations, late August/early September is the biggest moving time of the year in this neighborhood, as it is in many others. So it’s likely that many of the people you were trying to reach either had already moved or were in the process of moving. You might have more luck next week or the week after.
The west branch of the Somerville library on College Ave also has a pretty popular message board for flyers, as does JP Licks in Davis and some other stores.
Good luck!
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