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January 2022
Announcing our newest project on swamp coolers, a publication on NFL athletes, and videos developed by farmworkers
Happy New Year from the team at Tracking California!

We're happy to share some final accomplishments of 2021 and announce some new exciting work going into 2022:

At the end of last year, we published several articles on rare diseases including Sickle Cell and ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) surveillance in the state. One analysis we were involved in found that NFL athletes had higher incidence and mortality rates of ALS compared to the general population.

We also collaborated with farmworker leaders to develop short videos on their experiences with heat illness and wildfires in the workplace.

This year, we're also taking on a new study to design a wildfire smoke filtration system for agricultural workers in the Central Valley who have swamp coolers in their homes.

As we begin another year, we continue to welcome your comments and questions about our program here.

Catalina Garzon-Galvis,
Senior Health Educator

David Chang,
Project Coordinator
Introducing the Filtration for Respiratory Exposure to wildfire Smoke from Swamp Cooler Air (FRESSCA) Study
In the San Joaquin Valley, many homes of agricultural workers and other low-income families have evaporative or "swamp" coolers, which are often in use during wildfire season and high heat events. However, swamp coolers do not have air filtration, and residents report that their indoor air becomes incredibly smoky. This means these workers are exposed to dangerous air while at work and at home.

The Filtration for Respiratory Exposure to wildfire Smoke from Swamp Cooler Air (FRESSCA) study aims to address this problem by designing and field testing air filtration for swamp coolers. Dr. Gina Solomon (Public Health Institute) in partnership with Tracking California, Central California Environmental Justice Network (CCEJN), the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Environmental Health Laboratory (EHL), the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), is leading the study to reduce wildfire smoke exposures and health risks among agricultural workers and other low-income families who have swamp coolers in their homes.

Learn more about the study on the FRESSCA website and contact david.chang@trackingcalifornia.org for additional information.
Achieving Resilient Communities (ARC) stories of resilience/historias de resiliencia
Farmworkers are 20 times more likely to die from heat stress than the US civilian workforce overall. As climate change exacerbates heat and wildfire smoke, resilience efforts in farmworker communities will be crucial.

To help increase awareness of these issues, farmworker leaders from the ARC farmworker advisory committee participated in a digital storytelling workshop to develop short videos that share their personal lived experiences with heat and wildfire smoke. This effort was led by StoryCenter and the ARC Project, in collaboration with the California Department of Public Health.

Watch the powerful full video series here.
We are also excited to announce the launch of our newly designed ARC Project Website! www.achievingresilientcommunities.org

Explore our site to learn more about our work in Ventura and Kern Counties and visit the resources page for additional news that comes out of our project.
Final publications of 2021

In this editorial for JAMA Health Forum, the authors discuss why systematic data collection for SCD through population-wide surveillance programs (including the work Tracking CA does as part of the Sickle Cell Data Collection Program, or SCDC) can help to facilitate progress in treatment. The article also explores the importance of having both a longitudinal clinical registry and a national surveillance program to improve resource utilization, clinical outcomes, and provides an equitable foundation for care.

This collaboration with Oregon Health and Science University hematologist Trisha Wong using our SCDC data found that concurrent use of iron chelation drug Deferasirox and the standard of care drug for severe sickle cell disease, hydroxyurea, showed no evidence of harmful side effects, although further studies are required to understand the effects of taking both drugs simultaneously.

The Tracking team's work on ALS surveillance in California from 2012-2014 contributed to this analysis, which found NFL athletes had nearly four times higher incidence and mortality rates of ALS compared with the US general population, adjusting for age and race.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please send them our way at info@trackingcalifornia.org
Tracking California, formerly the California Environmental Health Tracking Program, is a program of the Public Health Institute in partnership with the California Department of Public Health. Tracking California is part of a national initiative coordinated by the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program. 
This publication was supported by the Cooperative Agreement Number 5U38EH000953, funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.