The Utah Department of Health and Human Services proposes to enhance its capacity to investigate, assess, document, and communicate site-specific environmental health risks in partnership with ATSDR, the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, and our thirteen local health departments. This partnership, known as the Utah-ATSDR Partnership to Promote Local Efforts to Reduce Environmental Exposure (Utah-APPLETREE), is implemented as a cooperative agreement with ATSDR subject to all of the requirements listed in or referenced in the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) CDC-RFA-TS-23-0001. The purpose of the program is to: 1) identify pathways of exposure to hazardous substances at hazardous waste sites and releases, 2) identify, implement, and coordinate public health interventions to reduce exposures to hazardous substances which occur at levels of health concern, and 3) protect the health of children at early care and education centers through coordination and promotion of Utah’s Choose Safe Places program. The Utah-APPLETREE program will utilize this FOA to complete current projects, initiate investigations, assessments, and community health education for current and future sites. Utah-APPLETREE has a plan of work for the next fiscal year that includes three high-impact non-NPL sites, a soilSHOP in Salt Lake County, a community engagement and health education air quality (PM10) project.
Measurable outcomes and performance evaluation will follow the APPLETREE Cooperative Agreement Program Logic Model found in the FOA. Short-, mid-, and long- term outcomes for the project period are 1) timely dissemination of site-specific findings to partners, stakeholders, and community members within one month of final report clearance; 2) increased partner buy-in and acceptance of public health recommendations; 3) increased implementation of recipient recommendations to reduce, eliminate, or prevent exposures by regulatory agencies and/or individuals; 4) decreased or eliminated site-related exposure; and 5) decreased, eliminated, or prevented exposures to hazardous substances.