Dan Russell

Helping Flint Water Crisis Victims Face an Uncertain Future

Dan Russell, ’75 BS

Dan Russell stumbled the other day, and it worried him a little. He didn’t fall, he wasn’t hurt, but he wondered … “Could it be the water?”

A YSU alum, Russell works in Flint, Mich., where a water contamination crisis exposed 100,000 residents to lead poisoning for 18 months. Now, they struggle with lingering doubts and mental anguish about long-term effects.

Parents of more than 8,000 children who drank the lead-laced water are especially anxious, and justifiably so. Lead is a neurotoxin that can damage the nervous system, cause brain and blood disorders, and it is especially harmful to the developing brains and organs of small children.

As chief executive officer of Genesee Health System, one of the largest mental health agencies in the state of Michigan, Russell and his staff were called in to help shortly after Jan. 17, 2016, when President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in Flint.

“Initially, there was anxiety and incredible anger. Parents wanted to know, ‘Did I poison my kids by giving them water and baby formula?’ And the anger continues today,” he said. “It is a very real thing, something the residents here deal with every day, and something that the community will be dealing with for a very long time.”

Flint’s drinking water became tainted with dangerous levels of lead in April 2014 when city officials switched the water supply from Detroit to the Flint River to save money during a financial crisis. The river water was not treated with anti-corrosion chemicals, so lead leached into the water from the city’s aging water pipes.

“My first call came from the Office of the Surgeon General,” Russell said, recalling the army of federal mental health workers that arrived to support his agency staff, professionals who had experienced other world disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina and the Indian Ocean tsunami. “What was really striking, what made this so different, is that a hurricane ends and you start the rebuilding process. This crisis is ongoing.”

In the months that followed, Genesee staff went door-to-door for more than a year, offering help to Flint families. The agency provided a range of services, including one-on-one counseling and group crisis counseling sessions. “It was a very chaotic, busy time,” he said. “The water crisis became a full-time job and we all worked day and night.”

Today, there are signs of recovery. The city has replaced lead and galvanized waterlines for thousands of homeowners, with plans to install new pipes in 18,000 homes by 2020. Residents are being encouraged to use free water filters as the state works to wean them off bottled water and 15 government officials have been charged with crimes.

The National Council for Behavioral Health honored Russell with its Award of Excellence for Visionary Leadership for his role in leading recovery efforts for what it called “one of the worst and most damaging manmade disasters in the history of the United States,” and for his 40-year career in community mental health.

But the YSU graduate, who also holds an MBA and a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Dayton, knows that the crisis is far from over. Over the last year, Genesee Health System has seen a 40 percent increase for all its programs and services. “We’re busier than we’ve ever been in our history – we’re seeing more people with general anxiety, alcohol abuse, depression – it’s not a mental health issue, it’s a water issue,” he said.

On a personal note, Russell said the crisis has made him more aware. “We just assume that water from the faucet is safe to drink. Don’t assume. Every municipality has to supply a water report every year. Do you read it? I do. We have to pay attention.”