EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
promotion activities at approximately 315 sites. These activities included establishing
five pediatric environmental health specialty units at major medical centers across the
country, providing environmental medicine training to health care professionals, and
developing a variety of educational materials for specific communities.
The states that participate in ATSDR's cooperative agreement programs contribute
greatly to ATSDR's health education services and products for people living near
hazardous waste sites throughout the United States. Cooperative agreement states, in
conjunction with ATSDR, developed fact sheets, brochures, fliers, and training and
community education. Grand rounds, conferences, exhibits, public meetings, and school
presentations were the venues to provide information to and encourage capacity
building in often underserved communities. Following is an example of a cooperative
agreement state's efforts to educate the public about health hazards posed by a site in
their community.
The Alabama Department of Public Health, through a cooperative agreement
with ATSDR, coordinated community involvement and health education at the
Alabama Plating Company site in Vincent, Alabama. The site had been
contaminated with lead and other hazards, and there was evidence that children
were playing on the site. The health department conducted site visits, mailed
information to the community, conducted a community survey, and held public
meetings to alert parents to the danger of lead poisoning from this source. As a
result, more than 90% of parents surveyed stated that they knew which areas
were unsafe and could better make decisions about where children could play.
ATSDR's Division of Health Education and Promotion worked in partnership with
five national organizations in FY 1999--the American Association of Occupational
Health Nurses (AAOHN), the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics
(AOEC), the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM),
the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), and the National
Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). Through these
partnerships, ATSDR was able to provide such services as training local health officials,
providing medical referrals at sites, and developing case studies on environmental health
for health care professionals
ATSDR also works in partnership with other federal agencies to provide health
education. For example, through an interagency agreement with EPA, ATSDR initiated a
national distribution of the fish consumption guidelines Should I Eat the Fish I Catch? in
three languages. In FY 1999, approximately 100,000 copies of the guidelines were mailed
to active members of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the American
Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Academy of Family Physicians. These
guidelines are intended to help physicians identify and counsel the susceptible
populations they serve.
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