2022-2023 What the Eyes Don't See - Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha - Common Book Otterbein University

What the Eyes Don't See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City

What the Eyes Don't See by Mona Hanna-Attisha
Call Number: RA1231.L4 H34 2019
ISBN: 9780399590856
Publication Date: 2019-02-05
Here is the inspiring story of how Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, alongside a team of researchers, parents, friends, and community leaders, discovered that the children of Flint, Michigan, were being exposed to lead in their tap water—and then battled her own government and a brutal backlash to expose that truth to the world. Paced like a scientific thriller, What the Eyes Don’t See reveals how misguided austerity policies, broken democracy, and callous bureaucratic indifference placed an entire city at risk. And at the center of the story is Dr. Mona herself—an immigrant, doctor, scientist, and mother whose family’s activist roots inspired her pursuit of justice.

What the Eyes Don’t See is a riveting account of a shameful disaster that became a tale of hope, the story of a city on the ropes that came together to fight for justice, self-determination, and the right to build a better world for their—and all of our—children.

Common Book Assignment 2022
After you read the book, complete this assignment and be ready to turn it in during your FYS class at First Flight.

Uncovering the Flint Water Crisis: Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha

In late August 2015, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha started investigating claims of toxic lead levels in the water of Flint, MI. In her book WHAT THE EYES DON'T SEE, Dr. Hanna-Attisha and a team of scientists, citizens, journalists, and state representatives worked to expose the crisis, and to build a recovery for the children and families of Flint.

TEDMED

Pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha is the whistleblower who exposed the dangerous levels of lead in Flint, Michigan’s drinking water. In her 2016 TEDMED Talk, Mona sheds light on how the people of Flint are finding hope after the crisis and working together to rebuild their American dream.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha: The Flint Water Crisis

In honor of Black History Month, the Brown University School of Public Health and the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America presented a talk in the Building Health Equity in an Unequal World lecture series. "The Flint Water Crisis: A Journey for Justice" features Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the pediatrician and public health advocate whose research exposed the Flint Water Crisis. 3/1/2018

FYE Conference 2019

Mona Hanna-Attisha, author of WHAT THE EYES DON'T SEE: A STORY OF CRISIS, RESISTANCE, AND HOPE IN AN AMERICAN CITY (One World), speaks about her book at the First-Year Experience® (FYE) Conference in Las Vegas, NV.

About the Author: Mona Hanna-Attisha

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, MD, MPH, FAAP

Mona Hanna-Attisha, MD, MPH, FAAP, is founder and director of the Michigan State University and Hurley Children’s Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiative, an innovative and model public health program in Flint, Michigan.

A pediatrician, scientist, activist and author, Dr. Hanna-Attisha has testified four times before the United States Congress and was awarded the Freedom of Expression Courage Award by PEN America. She was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World and recognized as one of USA Today’s Women of the Century for her role in uncovering the Flint water crisis and leading recovery efforts, and most recently, received the 2020 CDC Foundation’s Fries Prize for Improving Health.

A frequent contributor to national media outlets, including the New York Times and Washington Post, Dr. Hanna-Attisha has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, BBC and countless other outlets championing the cause of children in Flint and beyond. She is the founding donor of the Flint Child Health and Development Fund (flintkids.org).

With concentrations in environmental health and health policy, Dr. Hanna-Attisha received her bachelor’s degree and Master of Public Health degree from the University of Michigan. She completed her medical degree from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and her residency at Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit, where she was chief resident. She is currently a Charles Stewart Mott Endowed Professor of Public Health and an associate professor of pediatrics and human development at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. (From the Author's Website)

Articles of Interest

People are the Purpose of Science
[Excerpt]: "Their work wasn’t about abstract scientific discovery alone. It was about people and community, working in partnership.

That is what science should be about — and what scientists should be solving for. It isn’t just an academic exercise for the ivory tower, to rack up publications, grants, and offers of tenure."
I’m Sick of Asking Children to Be Resilient
NYT article written by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha. "It’s time for reparations and resources and to not expect kids to “rise above.”"

As an Otterbein community member, you have access to the NYT for free! Visit our research databases for access.
Flint, Michigan, and the Politics of Safe Drinking Water in the United States
Flint's drinking water crisis has brought renewed - and needed - attention to the importance of safe drinking water in the United States. The Flint water crisis was the result of a confluence of factors operating at multiple scales in time and space. My aim is to draw out more explicitly the role of policy, and specifically rationalized policy, in incentivizing and allowing the mistakes and decisions that most proximately led to the Flint water crisis. I build on and extend existing analyses of the Flint water crisis, drawing on thirteen semi-structured interviews and publicly available reports, testimony, newspaper articles, and secondary data. My analysis brings to the fore the particular vulnerability to the marginalizing effects of rationalized policy and its implementation of poor and minority communities in the United States, and it reveals the stickiness and entrenchment of these rationalized policies. The response to the Flint water crisis, both in Michigan and nationally, has centered on renewed commitment to risk-based standards and rulemaking for safe drinking water protections, and maintains interventionist approaches to municipal financial distress. I discuss important alternatives that are emerging and indicate areas for future research on the politics of safe drinking water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Environmental Justice and the Flint Water Crisis
The article focuses on the concept of environmental justice and applying that concept to the Flint Water Crisis in Flint, Michigan. It mentions that the crisis began when officials in Michigan decided to switch the city's water supply from the Detroit water system to the Flint River as a cost-cutting move. It also mentions that African American residents of Warren County, North Carolina have used non-violent civil disobedience to protest the delivery of toxic waste to a local dump.
Elevated Blood Lead Levels in Children Associated With the Flint Drinking Water Crisis: A Spatial Analysis of Risk and Public Health Response
We analyzed differences in pediatric elevated blood lead level incidence before and after Flint, Michigan, introduced a more corrosive water source into an aging water system without adequate corrosion control. Methods. We reviewed blood lead levels for children younger than 5 years before (2013) and after (2015) water source change in Greater Flint, Michigan. We assessed the percentage of elevated blood lead levels in both time periods, and identified geographical locations through spatial analysis. Results. Incidence of elevated blood lead levels increased from 2.4% to 4.9% (P < .05) after water source change, and neighborhoods with the highest water lead levels experienced a 6.6% increase. No significant change was seen outside the city. Geospatial analysis identified disadvantaged neighborhoods as having the greatest elevated blood lead level increases and informed response prioritization during the now-declared public health emergency. Conclusions. The percentage of children with elevated blood lead levels increased after water source change, particularly in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Water is a growing source of childhood lead exposure because of aging infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Stress, Coping, Resilience and Trust during the Flint Water Crisis
In 2014, government officials in the City of Flint, Michigan switched the municipal water source from the Detroit Water System (water source: Lake Huron) to the Flint River. During this time, an estimated 102,000 Flint residents were potentially exposed to multiple chemical (e.g., lead) and biological threats (e.g., Legionella). After the switch to water sourced from the Flint River, Flint residents consistently reported concerns over water quality while also experiencing rashes, hair loss, and other health problems, including anxiety and depression. This study 1) reports on the Flint Water Crisis and its subsequent impact on residents' stress, coping, resilience and trust and 2) describes a process methodology that trained, hired and deployed Flint residents as members of a multidisciplinary research team. A random sample of 320 Flint residents underwent household-based interviews to assess their health and mental health needs. Concomitantly, household water samples were obtained and residents were connected to known resources based on interview responses relative to need. This study found that declines in health and mental health status were correlated with increased stressors (i.e., fatigue, financial concern, anxiety), coping and less resilience or the capacity to recover. Perceived trust in government officials was significantly lower after the water crisis. While the water crisis generated numerous stressors, the event also galvanized community competence to engage in solution-focused coping and other adaptive capacities. By assessing and building upon Flint residents' resilience, community resource specialists, identified and subsequently strengthened city residents' ability to survive devastating challenges.

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