10/01/2026
๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ, ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ, ๐ก๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ, ๐๐ฟ. ๐ก๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ถ๐น๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป, ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ผ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐บ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฎ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ฑ๐๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐
Dr. Norma Schue Kreilein has been selected by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to receive the Local Hero Awardโa prestigious national honorโfor her 15-year advocacy for children disproportionately exposed to toxic air in environmental sacrifice zones like southwestern Indiana.
The award will be presented during the 2026 AAP National Conference and Exhibition this Saturday, October 3, in San Diego, California. Following the conference, Dr. Kreilein will be invited to give a virtual presentation to share her work and insights with the AAP Council on Community Pediatrics.
State officials create sacrifice zones, especially in rural and minority communities, by granting permits to multiple giant polluters to build and pollute in an area that already has extremely high levels of toxic emissions. Authorities, over decades, effectively and silently trade health and safety of local residents, including children, for economic gain.
Well-known effects of high doses of pollution upon children's health include autism, infant mortality, certain childhood cancers, low birth weight, and birth defects. Kreilein calls for the medical community to make pollution a social determinant of children's health, especially in high-pollution-exposure regions.
In southwestern Indiana, according to Indiana University geography professor, Dr. Annie Shattuck, during a presentation in rural Dale, Indiana, (Spencer County) in April of this year, "The Environmental Protection Agency requires industries to report their toxic releases. Spencer County alone has more industrial toxic releases, by pound, than Los Angeles, Philly, Chicago, and Atlanta combined because of the coal-fired plants and industries here."
Under government-controlled state agencies' watch, Indiana consistently ranks 49th and 50th in toxic emissions and environmental quality, and among the bottom in public health.
The AAP states, "The Local Hero Award recognizes pediatricians . . . who lead community action and advocacy for children in local communities. This award is presented to local individuals who epitomize the 'community pediatrician'."
Kreilein states, "I hope this national award will help to empower medical doctors everywhere to challenge local, state, and national elected officialsโand their environmental and health agenciesโto enact preventive policies addressing childhood illnesses, to prioritize children's health over polluting industries, especially in the most overburdened and neglected regions. I'm honored to be a part of Southwestern Indiana Citizens for Quality of Life, swicql.org. Children in sacrifice zones especially need the voices of the doctors above all others."
Kreilein, also a strong advocate for breastfeeding, formerly served as a pediatrician in Jasper, Indiana, where from 2011-2014 as president of Healthy Dubois County, she ledโand largely fundedโthe successful opposition, including litigation, to a toxic, biomass incinerator within the city limits, a facility approved by city officials, that would have taken at least 40 lives annually, according to Notre Dame ethicist and scientist Dr. Kristin Shrader-Frechette, who studied the Jasper proposal in depth.
From 2017-2023, she was the leading medical voice advocating for children in opposing a massive, $2.5 billion, state-sanctioned, highly-polluting coal-to-diesel refinery in rural Dale, Indiana, in Spencer County. The county consistently ranks in the worst 1% in the US in toxic emissions. Kreilein's and SWICQL's efforts, greatly supported by Valley Watch and Earthjustice, helped to stop the project.
Kreilein has been peer-reviewed and published extensively on the subject of environmental sacrifice zones and has spoken and presented posters at national and international medical conferences. Researching, identifying, and calling for the alleviation of an overlooked root cause of childhood illnessesโoverexposure to extremely disproportionate industrial pollution emissionsโshe receives this AAP award as a role model for others in her field, educators, and all concerned about children's health.
She currently is semi-retired and serves as a locum tenens doctor at multiple hospitals while she continues her advocacy for prevention of childhood illnesses. For example, at this same AAP conference in San Diego, Kreilein is presenting a peer-reviewed abstract on the topic of the challenges of being a rural pediatrician in a sacrifice zone, and the need for greater advocacy from the medical community.
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https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/35973/2026-AAP-Award-winners
Local SWICQL colleaguesโ praise:
Mary Hess, SWICQL president: โDr. Kreilein embodies the courage, compassion, and unwavering determination required to advocate for children living in a sacrifice zone of industrial pollution. Her work is not simply professional, it is deeply moral, deeply human, and urgently needed. Every day she stands with families carrying the weight of environmental burdens they did not choose.โ
Jane Schipp, SWICQL secretary-treasurer: โI've known Dr. Kreilein for 37 years. When my daughter Megan was born (37 years ago), she became our pediatrician. Norma was, and is, the fiercest, clearest voice in the room, not just for her patients, but for every child out there. Her persistence and advocacy have never faltered. We need more Normas in this world.โ
Kris Lasher, HDC officer, SWICQL member: โDr. Kreilein witnesses the damage that pollution does to our most vulnerable. She speaks up for their health and their livesโand asks that society listen, acknowledge, and act. She is the canary in the coal mine. I, for one, am most grateful.โ
Jessica Blazier, SWICQL member, parent: โDr. Norma Kreilein has provided exceptional, child-centered care for my son, thoughtfully managing his complex medical needs by treating him as a whole, growing child rather than simply addressing individual symptoms. Through her advocacy, environmental health awareness, and willingness to provide unbiased, evidence-based guidance regarding treatments such as immunoglobulin therapy for his specific antibody deficiency, she has improved his quality of life while empowering our family to navigate health challenges and environmental exposures with confidence.โ
Maggie Pund-Stimming, SWICQL member: โDr. Kreilein is the shepherd working and researching diligently and tirelessly for over 15 years to inform residents, legislators, and anyone who will listenโthat the wolf is at the door in the form of higher levels of autism, autoimmune diseases, and birth defects. She advocates that only by making different choices (clean industries, alternative sources of energy, etc.) will we escape what is injuring and killing us.โ
Sampling of Dr. Kreilein's advocacy:
https://youtu.be/F64qcn8NzYo?si=RT2dDGi7tLxELVCQ (MSNBC interview with Jacob Soboroff)
https://www.sierraclub.org/compass/2017/05/sw-indiana-home-four-worst-polluting-power-plants-us
https://vimeo.com/184696619?fl=pl&fe=sh
(sacrifice zone/area of Dr. Kreileinโs practice
and advocacy)
https://publicintegrity.org/environment/energy/carbon-wars/americas-super-polluters/
https://magazine.nd.edu/stories/trouble-in-the-air/ #.WTHFEYvftKU.twitter
https://www.duboiscountyfreepress.com/pediatrician-recognized-passion-environmental-impact-childrens-health/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4434791/ (scroll down)
https://apha.confex.com/apha/2024/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/560541 (Dr. Kreilein led a local delegation to present at the annual American Public Health Association.)
