Eastern Shore Community Health Partners Inc

Eastern Shore Community Health Partners, Inc. was formed in 2008 in response to a preponderance of rare cancers and neurological diseases on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay.

Lesley Pacey, mother of leukemia survivor Sarah Pacey, founded the nonprofit after the Alabama Department of Public Health ended its second rare cancer study in Baldwin County in November 2008. At that time, ADPH concluded that Baldwin County experienced a childhood cancer cluster from 2000 through 2004, while reporting slightly elevated levels of leukemias, lymphomas, bladder, kidney and ovarian cancers in recent years.

Our own word-of-mouth database dating back to 1995 shows that the Eastern Shore of Baldwin County has been experiencing high rates of rare cancers, including brain and neurological cancers, leukemias and lymphomas. Our statistics show that Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is, at the very least, five times higher on the Eastern Shore than the national average.

The mission of our nonprofit agency is to protect the health and welfare of Eastern Shore citizens by tracking and studying these disease clusters. By maintaining a database of these rare chronic diseases and working with scientists and researchers from universities, we aim to assess the full scope of chronic diseases on the Eastern Shore and conduct privately-funded studies to uncover their possible environmental causes.

In 2008, we partnered with University of Arizona tree core scientists for environmental research. Those studies were funded by the Sybil H. Smith Charitable Trust. In 2010, we formed a partnership with the University of South Alabama for cancer cluster studies and groundwater analysis. Those studies are projected to be completed by 2014.

In the meantime, our knowledgeable board of directors hopes to initiate more scientific partnerships to better understand our health issues and local environment.

Currently, we need funding to help us perform scientific environmental research as well as a community health assessment and comprehensive GIS mapping of Eastern Shore disease clusters. 

Our rare disease database is a powerful tool that already has lured researchers to our area and we believe detailed mapping of rare diseases will be our best resource in soliciting future studies.

By donating to our cause, we can continue our mission to gauge the true scope of chronic disease on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay and their possible environmental causes - and ensure a healthy environment for all Eastern Shore residents.

Thank you for your consideration.

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