NIOSH offering free black lung screenings in North Central WV this week

The NIOSH Coal Worker's Health Surveillance Program offers periodic black lung screenings at no cost to coal miners in the U.S. (NIOSH photo)

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is bringing a mobile testing unit to North Central West Virginia this week, offering free black lung screenings for current and former coal miners in the region.

The screenings will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. from July 23-25 at Mylan Park, in Morgantown, and at the same time on July 30 at the Craig Civic Center, in Kingwood. Appointments for those looking to be screened are encouraged but not necessary. Patients can call 1-888-480-4042 or email cwhsp@cdc.gov to schedule an appointment. Results from screenings will be returned to those tested within 8 to 10 weeks and will include follow-up information depending on results.

The screenings are a critical tool that can help increase early detection of black lung in current and former coal miners, according to Christopher Parker, a public health advisor with the NIOSH Respiratory Health Division and a field coordinator for the agency’s Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program. Early detection is key to ensuring those diagnosed with the disease can begin managing it before it advances to more complicated stages, Parker said.

“It’s generally a good thing, always, to keep a current check on your health and as for black lung, it’s a very debilitating disease that progressively gets worse over time. By not checking your health you’re putting yourself at risk and that has further impacts on affecting your work and how you provide for your family,” Parker said. “People may feel fine now, but in a couple years, things change.”

Those who come for screenings this week or at other NIOSH-sponsored events in the future will not be charged. Parker said participants will be asked to fill out two short questionnaires — one for work history and another for health background — before receiving their screenings. Screenings will include a blood pressure check, an X-ray and a spirometry test for those who qualify. Each visit should take about 30 minutes and will take place in a NIOSH mobile unit. The results and screenings are completely confidential.

“We want to increase participation by coal miners because the turnout and participation rates in the normal process in the clinics that are approved by NIOSH to provide the exams is generally low,” Parker said. “[With the mobile unit] we are able to go directly to coal mines and local community establishments, like Walmart and the county fairs, really wherever coal miners are we go for these examinations.”

Parker said the mobile unit being used for the screenings is part of an initiative started nearly 20 years ago to help increase awareness and detection of black lung. The mobile unit, according to Parker, allows NIOSH to focus its testing and data collection efforts in “hot spots” like central Appalachia, where disease rates often outpace other areas.

Black lung is a debilitating disease often caused by inhaling dangerous silica dust inhaled while working underground. Central Appalachia holds some of the highest rates of complicated black lung in the nation. A resurgence of the disease is underway as miners are being diagnosed at younger ages than ever before  due to a lack of easily accessible coal and an increase in the amount of silica-rich sandstone they have to dig through to reach what remains.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 20% of coal miners in Central Appalachia are suffering from black lung — the highest rate detected in more than 25 years. One in 20 of the region’s coal miners are living with the most severe form of the condition.

A new federal rule from the Department of Labor and the Mine Safety and Health Administration was finalized earlier this year to limit the amount of silica dust workers are exposed to. The new rule — which was initially proposed last July, finalized this April and began to go into effect last month — implements for the first time ever a separate exposure limit for silica dust in mines, cuts the maximum exposure limit to 50 micrograms per cubic meter for a full-shift and creates an “action level” for when exposure comes at 25 micrograms per cubic meter for a full shift. It also establishes uniform exposure monitoring and control requirements for mine operators to follow.

Labor advocates have said the rule is long overdue and deeply needed as coal becomes more difficult and dangerous for miners to access. Despite the wide support for the rule among health experts, workers and labor unions, an appropriations bill is currently moving through congress that could — unless amended by lawmakers — stop its implementation.

The appropriations bill — which outlines how the Department of Labor will allocate its funding for fiscal year 2025 — contains one line of text that prohibits the use of any funding for the application of the new silica dust rule. So far, the proposed bill has passed a House of Representatives subcommittee and the House Appropriations Committee . It is awaiting consideration by the full House, where it can be amended, before it advances to the Senate.

NIOSH black lung screenings schedule

Mylan Park – MSHA Mine Rescue Contest

500 Mylan Park Ln, Morgantown, WV 26501

Tuesday, July 23 thru Thursday, July 25, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Craig Civic Center

311 Tunnelton St, Kingwood, WV 26537

Tuesday, July 30, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Wild Things Baseball Park

1 Washington Federal Way, Washington, PA 15301

Monday, Aug. 5, 8 a.m.to 4 p.m.

Wheeling Park

1801 National Rd, Wheeling, WV 26003

Tuesday, Aug. 6, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Holiday Inn Express & Suites

2035 Southgate Pkwy, Cambridge, OH 43725

Wednesday, Aug. 7, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Holiday Inn Express & Suites

1101 Spring St, Zanesville, OH 43701

Thursday, Aug. 8, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Mercer Mall

261 Mercer Mall Rd, Bluefield, WV 24701

Tuesday, Sept. 10, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Holiday Inn Express & Suites – Claypool Hill

180 Clay Dr, Pounding Mill, VA 24637

Wednesday, Sept. 11, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center

1 Partnership Cir, Abingdon, VA 24210

Thursday, Sept. 12, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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