Environmental Health Community Assessment Tool

Robyn Gilden, RN, MSUMSON Environmental Health Education Center

Greening the Nurse CurriculumJanuary 14, 2009

Learning Objectives

Describe the process of developing an assessment tool

Identify topic areas for a community environmental health assessment tool

Discuss lessons learned in the developing and piloting processes

Identify additional sources of information and technical assistance available to nurses based on findings from a community environmental health assessment

Development Process

Identified need Developed broad categories Generated questions under each category Edited internally Pilot tested Evaluated (Revision)

Environmental Health Community Assessment

Topic Areas

Air Air pollution Transportation issues

Water Bodies of water Drinking water Fish alerts

Topic Areas:

Land Land use/Industry Roads Public transportation/walkability Recreation area/green space Pesticides Fertilizers Schools Commuter lots/shopping areas Housing stock Vacant lots Small businesses (gas stations, dry cleaners, auto repair) Agriculture related issues

Topic Areas

Waste Landfills/incinerators Trash collection,

maintenance process Illegal dumping Odors Rodents

Safety Violence Drugs Police and emergency

service presence

Pilot Test

Fall 2008 UG CH clinical group Upton community, Baltimore, MD 21217 Feedback:

Able to use tool for the most part Didn’t know what some of the acronyms meant

(CCR) Couldn’t (easily) find some of the information

(zoning enforcement) Some questions did not apply for an urban setting

(Ag issues)

Lessons Learned

Need a lot of eyes General questions and subsets Students and practicing PH nurses are at

different levels

Resources and Technical Assistance E-commons www.e-commons.org (coming

soon!) EnviRN www.envirn.umaryland.edu Scorecard www.scorecard.org

Resources and Technical Assistance US EPA

Envirofacts www.epa.gov/enviro/ Tools for Schools

www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/index.html Office of Drinking Water

www.epa.gov/safewater/dwinfo/index.html Office of Children’s Health Protection

yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/homepage.htm

Office of Pesticides www.epa.gov/pesticides/ Office of Lead www.epa.gov/lead/

Resources and Technical Assistance Local and State Level

Department of Environment Local fish advisories

Department of Health Department of Natural Resources Soil

Conservation Districts Archives of local newspapers

Envirofacts

21217

Scorecard

Questions?

Robyn Gilden, RN, MSProgram Manager

University of Maryland School of Nursing

Environmental Health Education Center

(p) 410-706-4803/ (f) 410-706-0253

rgilden@son.umaryland.edu