Summary: Chapters 12–14

In Chapter 12, even though she’s worried about Marc Edwards’s reputation for volatility, Batanzo contacts him. He replies immediately, citing his concerns about the risk of lead to babies drinking formula. They make plans to meet. Meanwhile, Hanna-Attisha, with the help of Jenny, tries to make her study as perfect as possible so they can submit their study to the IRB.

Multitasking, Hanna-Attisha prints out the blood-lead results and arranges to meet up with Batanzo at her children’s soccer game. She feels like a character on the TV show Scandal (2012–2018)—an ABC drama that features former media consultant Olivia Pope as the head of a crisis management firm. Batanzo looks at the results with amazement, and Hanna-Attisha says, “Flint kids are being poisoned.” However, Hanna-Attisha also knows she needs a larger sampling before she shows anyone.

Hanna-Attisha follows up with the CEO of Hurley Clinic, Melany Gavulic (born 1968). She hopes that she will be supportive of Hanna-Attisha’s efforts to get a larger sample. Melany says they have to give the city a heads-up. Hanna-Attisha and Jenny arrange a meeting with her the next day. Hanna-Attisha calls Dr. Lawrence Reynolds, the CEO of a nearby children’s health center, and tells him she suspects problems with blood-lead levels due to the water. Reynolds immediately knows this is important and wants more information. He says he will try to get more data.

Hanna-Attisha isn’t feeling well, is losing weight, and seems tired. One of her residents expresses concern about her.

In Chapter 13, Hanna-Attisha is excited about meeting Marc Edwards. However, her mother, who has been out of town visiting her brother, is concerned about her. Hanna-Attisha doesn’t tell her what the matter is because she knows that her mother, after her experiences with corrupt government in Iraq, would worry a lot.

She and Batanzo meet with Dean and Marc Edwards. Before Edwards arrives, Hanna-Attisha shows the other two the blood-lead results. Edwards brings one of his PhD students with him. Hanna-Attisha hasn’t realized that, a decade earlier, Dean and Marc Edwards had argued about the high lead levels in Lansing. Dean hadn’t thought they were important.

When Hanna-Attisha tells Edwards about the work she’s been doing, he thinks she’s too optimistic. Edwards distrusts the government. Hanna-Attisha thinks he sounds bitter and angry. Edwards says that, when a water source is switched, there is supposed to be significant sampling before and after. This wasn’t done in Flint. Edwards says, “The EPA and states work hand in hand to bury problems.”

Hanna-Attisha thinks that she and Edwards are opposite in every way. He is a tall, white man. She is a short, Iraqi woman. He comes from the Confederacy. She is practically in Canada. He distrusts the government. She believes it can help people. But she believes they have things in common as well, such as caring about kids. She can also tell that Edwards is a deeply moral person. He saw helping kids as his duty because those who were supposed to do it didn’t.

They discuss what to do next, including how to get Flint kids ready-to-feed formula that doesn’t have to be mixed with water. After lunch, Hanna-Attisha writes to the county health department to see if that’s possible. Ready-to-feed formula isn’t usually covered by Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) funding. She receives a response immediately that that isn’t possible, absent an emergency. Hanna-Attisha writes to Melany Gavulic, the CEO of Hurley and Hanna-Attisha’s boss, saying Flint is facing a disaster. Gavulic says, “I want us to be part of the solution.”

Hanna-Attisha finds out that the IRB has approved their application, so they can move forward with their study.

In Chapter 14, with the IRB approval, Hanna-Attisha and Jenny can access the blood-lead levels from doctors all over Flint. In only minutes, they have a much larger sample size. They send instructions to the residents and faculty at Hurley Clinic, telling them that there is concern about lead in the water. For that reason, they should recommend mothers breastfeed or, if using formula, not mix it with tap water, especially warm tap water, which is worse. Hanna-Attisha wonders angrily, “Is the official indifference because these are Flint kids? Poor kids? Black kids?”

That day, she has a meeting about a community-based initiative called CHAP, Children’s Healthcare Access Program, which improves access to health care. After the meeting, she tells a friend, Kirk Smith, who is on the committee and is CEO of Greater Flint Health Coalition, that there is a problem with the water. He asks for more details, and she expresses her frustration. She tells him and another man, Jamie Gaskin from the United Way, that she’s spoken with Marc Edwards and thinks he’s the real deal. Gaskin wants to distribute bottled water and filters. Hanna-Attisha says the government must declare a state of emergency and issue a health advisory. They discuss how to get it done. Hanna-Attisha feels she is now part of a team.

That same day, she meets with members of the Michigan Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (MIAAP) to talk about vaccination. She wore her white coat. She doesn’t usually do this outside the clinic or hospital because she sees it as something only medical students do. But she says the white coat “screams credibility” when giving interviews on camera. Her white coat has the Michigan State University logo. She remembers she has received no reply from Karen Lishinski and starts wondering about the kids who got screened for lead and those who didn’t get screened. At the end of the meeting, she raises her hand and mentions that Flint has a lead problem. She tells them that GM stopped using Flint water because it was corroding the engines. She can tell they’re concerned.

The next day, she attends a conference about toxic stress and then goes through her email, analyzes data with Jenny, and talks to Marc Edwards. They decide to use the highest blood-lead level if a child has more than one. Then, she realizes that lead in the water peaks in the summer months. They decide not to use data from those months, since it will be questioned. Even correcting for this, the blood-lead levels are markedly higher after the water switch. She forwards the results to Marc Edwards, who says, “I’m ashamed for my profession.”

At the conference, she talks to a state senator, Jim Ananich (born 1975). He is upset for the Flint kids and asks what his new baby should be eating. Hanna-Attisha recommends ready-to-use formula if breastfeeding isn’t possible. She also discusses environmental justice with Dr. Reynolds. They believe that the fact that lead is in the water in the poor, Black neighborhood isn’t an accident.

Analysis: Chapters 12–14

The author paints a picture of Marc Edwards as someone who could have decided to stand idly by and benefit from wrongdoing. He is from the majority culture and from the South. No one would question him. Meanwhile, everyone is against him because he has chosen to take the side of questioning the water supply, the government, and the status quo. He is known as being difficult. Yet he feels strongly about kids having safe water, so strongly that he’s willing to risk everything.

Hanna-Attisha, by contrast, is someone who would typically be an outsider. She is a woman and an immigrant. But she has a rosier belief in the government. Yet she and Edwards work together because they both believe that government should do the right thing, that they have a duty to protect citizens.

In these chapters, Hanna-Attisha is putting her team together, speaking to the theme of community values. At first, Hanna-Attisha was on her own, with only Batanzo on her side. But now, she is finding others who agree with her and who will work toward a common goal. She speaks not only to Marc Edwards and Dean (whom she had reason to believe might not get along, but who still work together) but also to LaChance, Kirk, and Jamie Gaskin. She had previously felt rebuffed at every turn, but now, she says, “I could . . . see that I wasn’t alone anymore. A team was coming together.”

Hanna-Attisha’s white coat is a symbol of credibility in the story. It features the logo of her university on it, showing that the university is behind her. Therefore, it shows competence and that people put their trust in her.