Some folks in East Palestine say they're still dealing with the impact of the disaster, yet they're still holding out hope.
"It's a nice little town, and I think the people here, if they can get some help and they get some people in here to find out what's really going on, I think it will be a good thing," said Don Laughren, who was responding to a National Institutes of Health's $10 million research initiative into the long-term health effects of the East Palestine train derailment.
The five-year health study follows the research of Dr. Erin Haynes and her team. Haynes is an environmental health professor at the University of Kentucky. She tells 21 News it's better late than never.
"I think that's a lesson for the future. We need to pull together the experts as quickly as we can so that we can figure out the best ways to collaborate and put the good knowledge we have to work for the people," said Haynes.
Haynes says their research has discovered areas of the population where distress has not declined since the disaster. She says children also need to be a part of this research initiative as well as collaboration with local health departments. Haynes believes this new study will provide more firepower in the form of funding and personnel.
"I hope the data that is collected can be used for prevention and treatment of any disorder or disease that we find in the population," Haynes mentioned.
Meanwhile, less than a mile from the derailment site,
"I'm hopeful something good will come out of it, but at the same time, I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for something good to happen," said Kari Lentz, an East Palestine resident.
Lentz, like some others in the village, wants to see the research produce tangible solutions.
In the meantime, Dr. Haynes says it shouldn't take the whole duration of the new five-year study to start yielding results.