Each
sample that came to the lab left an impression in me. We had no computers to compile all this information, but my mind
retained it. Homeowners were bringing
samples because they wanted to know the mineral content, more specifically how
hard the water was.
I
added several tests relating to this because, well I was curious.
A
representative of a national treatment company began bringing sample for
potability testing and because I was curious, I would take a small sample and
do extra tests with it and I was finding a lie.
The
testing was fun to me, but the information, these numbers from the tests were
becoming important, for they showed a bit of truth and they were not supporting
the contention of the treatment people.
My
first battle for the homeowners in Stamford had begun.
The
battle only lasted a short time with this company, they left the area not
willing to do a pitched battle with reality.
They
were replaced by others, some claiming that the devices they were selling would
cure every thing, I called consumer protection since they were selling in many
towns and they left Connecticut.
Some
treatment companies were not so hostile to the results I found and actually allied
themselves with our lab. Some decided
to use our lab exclusively because they trusted my results.
I
was sent to speak to the North Stamford Homeowners association because of these
battles and was well received. With as
little as I knew (that of course, I did not know then, but now I do), I sounded
like an expert and people began to bring in more water samples.
A
group four of brothers, who were all well drillers, started to use me
exclusively for all of their testing. I
learned more from them, than they from me.
They
brought back into my life the little creature, iron bacteria for while iron
bacteria has no health effects, it does a great job creating a mat effectively
ruining most filter systems. This I had
learned in my short stint at the oil company lab, now this knowledge had become
useful.
My
knowledge of chemistry was having an impact and helping people and I was
beginning to feel very useful.
Then
I learned of the power of the health department.
On
a Sunday, working at my part time job, I went to lunch at a fast food
restaurant downtown. There were roaches
everywhere and I brought it to the attention of the manager, who treated me
very rudely, finishing his tirade at me with "IF you don't like it, tell
the health department!" I replied
something like, "I am the health department". The next day I went to the primary person in
charge of restaurants who proceeded to inspect and issue orders to the fast
food place. The manager treated him
rudely also and a letter was sent to the corporate offices of the fast food
place and the manager was fired.
I
was impressed because there was much that could be done to help people, though
I realized that this power could also be misused.
A
summer's day, a lunch in the administrative office of the health department and
everyone feel ill, including the health director. This was my first experience with food borne illness. The lab director knew what to do, I did not. I watched, listened and learned. Samples of every food were brought to the
lab and tested. The verdict? It was the cold rice salad that had been
left out of refrigeration for too
long. Staph toxin was the result and my
eyes opened wide. I had known about
chicken and eggs and pork and those issues, but rice, I never would have
thought.
From
that point on we would assist the Environmental Health personnel with food
borne investigations.
As
a public health lab we were not exactly under any department , but we were
supporting all of them with our testing.
We were under the direction of the health director, who was considered
to be an agent of the state health director and so we were considered to be an
arm of the state lab. There were times
my direct boss, would expand testing without direct authority of the health
director, but with his permission. Such
was the next element of testing the lab became involved in.
An
undercover police person asked my boss if we could tell him a baggie of white
powder he had purchased in an operation was cocaine. Since we had been screening for drugs for the half way house in
urine, testing this was easy. My boss
agreed and we began testing a few drug samples for the police. This soon became a large cache of drugs
brought to the lab every three weeks.
The
best part of this? We got money to buy
equipment! As long as in some way it
might be used for drug testing for the police, the boards who approved money
requests, would not say no. I ordered
many things that we needed for water testing, which could also be used, sometimes,
for drug testing.
This
money did not allow me to buy every thing I wanted, but the testing program was
coming more into line with best practices and that made me happy.
More
homeowners were coming to us with samples of their well water.
While
I was both busy and happy, my boss still kept a watchful eye that I did not do
anything else stupid.
The
testing we were doing for the shellfish beds was actually monitoring the Stamford sewage treatment plant. The method was long and tedious and the beds
were initially under the regulation of the state of Connecticut and we were
doing them a favor.
A
massive undertaking by the Water Pollution Control Department (This is what the
sewage treatment plant called themselves) to find sewer lines not connected to
the treatment plant, resulted in a lot of water testing, I was included and
there was overtime, lots of overtime.
The
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began to take an interest in all shellfish
areas and began to regulate the labs which did the testing. The state accepted all our results and they
felt we were fine as a testing lab, but we had to do an examination sent by the
FDA to become FDA certified.
The
exercise examined a control sample sent by the FDA that resembled testing the
shellfish themselves, not just the water.
There were many truly dangerous organisms in the sample and I needed to
follow safety protocols very carefully during the testing.
The
examination would certify the analyst, not the lab and my boss wanted me to be
certified. The testing took seven days
and in the end I became certified to do the testing, along with my boss.
There
was no further straying on my part and the work became more intense. There was still a slow time in the winter,
but it was not as slow and I was busy changing more tests, trying different
"standard" methods to see what would work best. I had discovered I could always order
chemicals, one of our grants seemed to cover it. More of the public would come in with different things for us to
look at and most of the time it fell to me to try to find out what it was.
My
reputation began to grow and my greatest ability was actually listening to
people to find out what they really needed from our testing.
The
forensic testing was growing and another technician was hired strictly for that
work, but there was enough for me to get involved often with the special
instruments
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