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By Scott G. Knowles: As part of the STL Anthropocene Field Campus the research team visited the Wood Refinery Refinery History Museum on March 9, 2019. This museum is located on the grounds of the Wood River Refinery, a Shell Oil refinery built in 1917 and today owned by Phillips 66. The site is Roxana, Illinois, just upriver from Granite City, and just over two miles from the convergence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Sitting on the actual grounds of the refinery, the museum is an invitation to think across the micro, meso, and macro scales of the Quotidian Anthropocene, in terms of geography and also in terms of time. This refinery was built at the crux of the WWI, at a time when United States petrochemical production was entering an intensive phase of production, invention, corporate structuring, and global engagement. The museum is an invitation to think across temporal scales, backwards to the start of the refinery--through the individual lives of the workers and engineers whose lives defined the refinery--and forward to indeterminate points of future memory. This photo captures a key moment in an informal interview we did with one of the history guides. He had worked in the museum for decades before retiring. He explained to us that the museum sits in the former research facility of the refinery--and the glass plat he is showing reveals a beautiful artifact, a photograph made of the complex when it was built. Our guide only showed us this collection of slides after our conversation had advanced, perhaps after he was sure we were truly interested in his story, and the deeper history of the refinery. The pride in the place, the community of workers, and the teaching ability of the museum was manifest. The research team felt impressed, but also concerned about the health impacts (and naturally the environmental impacts as well) of the refinery. There was a mismatch in the scales--the memory of the individual tied to emotions of pride and knowledge of hard work done there--and the Anthropocene, global scale of petrochemicals. How do we resolve this mismatch? The glass plate is somehow a clue.

The mission statement summarizes the aim of the Partners in Health as "to bring the benefits of modern medical science to those most in need of them and to serve as an antidote to despair". They are available to many of the suffering third-world countries that lack modern medicine. They are aided by the most prominent health care leaders in the world. They want to treat those in need of medical care like family, not just giving, but making them feel like they belong and are deserving of the same level of care.

Anyone can join, according to the website form. They are partnered with many large foundations and relief funds.

The organization saw cholera cases pop up and immediately opened clinics in those areas to try to reduce the impact and spread of cholera, as well as mental health services for families that lost loved ones. They vaccinated for cholera, and improved the infrastructure in the areas to reduce the spread of all waterborne diseases.

They do not seem to be very unique in any way, just the fact that they respond quickly, with plenty of resources, and the desire to do good with the resources they have, makes them a good organization. Their nurses and workers are highly trained but also have compassion, so they do not come off as trying to take over, but rather as trying to help the community from the bottom up.

They started in 1987, and since then have been helping with one crisis after the other. Tuberculosis in 1989, womens health, HIV, and many others. They expanded and learned with each project.

They are partnered with some of the largest and most prestigious health care companies and institutes in the world, so that helps them to have cutting edge technology and as many resources as possible, given their budget. Those partners may encourage them to use their resources in particular ways, but overall, healthcare is the basis of each partner's goals, so they shouldn't be swayed in unethical ways.

They have lots of data on the diseases and causes of death in children, since children die at an alarming rate from preventable causes. The Partners in Health uses this data to channel their resources to help the most children. They provide hot lunches to help kids focus in school, Toms helps them give closed-toe shoes required for schools, they give hens to families to produce eggs for a higher-protein diet and to increase the family's income. These solutions, among others, are fueled by data and are now trying to help keep more kids alive.

The Partners in Health are working on expanding surgery centers across the world, as described on their website: "'Essential surgical procedures rank among the most cost-effective of all health interventions,' finds the World Bank.". They have surgical centers, clinics, and other facilities for healthcare, but also help to better all of the infrastructure in the communities they aid, to reduce the spread of diseases.

The organization has workers that live in the various communities to increase trust with the native people, and show them that the nurses and midwives are there to help and save lives, not take over. They do home visits since travel is hard in many of the areas, and they do routine check ups to make sure that clean water and living conditions are aiding recovery processes apporopriately.