EHSB Journal of Environmental Health Columns for 2012

Environmental Health Internship Essentials [PDF - 208 KB] – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Summer Program in Environmental Health (SUPEH) provides students in academic programs accredited by the National Environmental Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council (EHAC) an opportunity to experience environmental health practice at the local, state, and federal levels. The article describes the experience of four 2011 SUPEH interns, from hands-on activities in the field to environmental health management in the office. This article is published in the January/February 2012 issue of the Journal of Environmental Health.

Evaluating Local and State Food and Water Safety Programs [PDF - 757 KB] – Kristin Delea discusses a planned evaluation of local and state food and water safety programs to provide data that show the impact of these programs on public health. This article is published in the March 2012 issue of the Journal of Environmental Health.

Public Health Performance Management: Opportunities for Environmental Public Health [PDF - 357 KB] – Environmental public health programs can help public health departments meet performance and quality improvement goals. LCDR Justin Gerding and Julianne Price discuss how a local environmental health department used the Environmental Public Health Performance Standards to initiate quality improvement efforts. This article is published in the April 2012 issue of the Journal of Environmental Health.

Model Aquatic Health Code (MAHC) and International Swimming Pool and Spa Code (ISPSC) [PDF - 385 KB] – Rob Blake and Jay Peters discuss how MAHC and ISPSC can complement each other. They discuss how clearly identifying the respective roles of building and health officials in the two codes is key and how public health will benefit from closer collaboration with building officials. This article is published in the May 2012 issue of the Journal of Environmental Health.

Prevention of Tick-Borne Diseases [PDF - 211 KB] – Guest columnists Joseph Piesman and C. Ben Beard describe U.S. efforts to prevent tick-borne diseases such as Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and Colorado tick fever. They also announce the TickNET multistate trial to determine whether barrier acaricide sprays on residential properties are effective in decreasing the incidence of Lyme disease. This article is published in the June 2012 issue of the Journal of Environmental Health.

Establishing the Practice of Health Impact Assessment in the United States [PDF - 613 KB] – Guest columnist CDR Arthur M. Wendel describes health impact assessments (HIAs) and how they are instrumental in building healthy and safe community environments. He also describes tools and resources created by CDC’s Healthy Community Design Initiative to help EH practitioners engage in HIAs. This article is published in the July/August 2012 issue of the Journal of Environmental Health.

Plain Language Summaries: A New EHS-Net Tool to Share Our Published Findings [PDF - 249 KB] – Laura Green Brown and Pamela S. Wigington discuss new summaries that contain brief descriptions of each study’s purpose, method, findings, conclusions, and recommendations. This article is published in the September 2012 issue of the Journal of Environmental Health.

The Food-Water Nexus: Irrigation Water Quality, Risks to Food Safety, and the Need for a Systems-Based Preventive Approach [PDF - 253 KB] – CAPT Rick Gelting and Mansoor Baloch show how a systems-based environmental assessment helped identify contributing factors in two nationwide outbreaks linked to fresh produce. This article is published in the October 2012 issue of the Journal of Environmental Health.

Enumerating the Environmental Public Health Workforce—Challenges and Opportunities [PDF - 176 KB] – CAPT Mehran Massoudi, Rob Blake, and Larry Marcum discuss efforts to determine the number and composition of the U.S. workforce at the federal, state, and local levels. This article is published in the November 2012 issue of the Journal of Environmental Health.

Emergency Water Supply Planning Guide for Hospitals and Health Care Facilities Available Online [PDF - 607 KB] – The guide helps health care facilities develop Emergency Water Supply Plans as part of their overall emergency operations plans. This article is published in the December 2012 issue of the Journal of Environmental Health.