URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Fall_2015_Melissa-McCarthy

For the Narragansett Native American Tribe, fish hold a central role in its heritage and diet. But possible contamination of its waters sent the tribe searching for solutions. University of Rhode Island (URI) Assistant Professor of Nursing Marcella Thompson stepped into an untraditional role for a nurse as the Rhode Island Tribe grapples with possibly polluted fish at its Charlestown, R.I. reservation. This summer, Thompson launched the Namaus Project, which translates to “All Things Fish” in the Narragansett language. With Thompson at the helm and backed by a tribal council resolution, a team comprised of the tribe, URI, Brown University and Dartmouth College launched a five-year mission to study the issue and recommend a remediation plan. To fund the effort, the group received grants from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, There’s a Destiny for Everything

written by Aiden Fitzgerald and Chris Barrett ‘08

the Brown University Superfund Research Program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and URI. The Namaus Project team is using novel and multidisciplinary approaches in environmental health research to engage tribal members and build their capacity to fully participate in decision-making processes around this environmental issue. “I am not a traditional nurse,” Thompson says. “As an environmental health nurse scientist, I employ multidisciplinary methods to address very complex environmental health issues.” Her latest project is certainly complex. The EPA warned the Narragansett Tribe that fish in its waters might contain potentially harmful amounts of environmental contaminants, such as mercury. In 2012, Thompson was working with the tribal government and leading workshops with the tribal elders on planning for emergencies such as natural disasters. The tribal government asked her to help determine what to do

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