The purpose of the partnership between the Massachusetts Department of Public Health/Bureau of Environmental Health (MDPH) and ATSDR’s Partnership to Promote Local Efforts to Reduce Environmental Exposure (APPLETREE) is to identify pathways of exposure to hazardous substances at waste sites and to identify, implement, and coordinate public health interventions to reduce exposures to hazardous substances. MDPH has conducted public health assessments and environmental health education and outreach activities at sites throughout Massachusetts for over three decades with a multi-disciplinary team of environmental health scientists and health education staff. For all proposed activities, MDPH will collaborate with ATSDR on program evaluation and performance measurement.
MDPH will develop its Annual Plan of Work (APOW) with approval by the ATSDR Technical Project Team. MDPH proposes 5.72 FTEs and anticipates conducting health consultations and health education activities during the first funding year for 28 sites on the APOW, along with providing technical assistance. These activities aim to achieve the following measurable outcomes: (1) timely dissemination of site-specific findings to partners, stakeholders, and community members; (2) increased partner buy-in and acceptance of recommendations; (3) increased community, stakeholder, and health professional knowledge of site-related risks and recommendations; (4) regulatory agencies, policy makers, and individuals accept and implement site recommendations; (5) decreased, eliminated, or prevented exposures to site-related or hazardous chemicals; and (6) increased collection of evidence of effective practices, policies, and processes for preventing exposure.
MDPH is committed to sustaining the Massachusetts Choose Safe Places for Early Care and Education (MA CSPECE) program to reduce and prevent hazardous exposures among children and staff in early care and education programs. Activities aim to achieve the following measurable outcomes: (1) increased stakeholder/partner buy-in and knowledge of ECE siting issues and recommendations to prevent exposure; (2) increased understanding of barriers and facilitators for safe siting; (3) enhanced infrastructure to expand and sustain MA CSPECE; (4) increased stakeholder practices and systems/policy changes to prevent hazardous exposures for children; (5) increased practices of partners to participate in the management of MA CSPECE; (6) improved efficiency and quality of MA CSPECE; (7) decreased, eliminated, or prevented exposures; and (8) increased collection of evidence of effective practices, policies, and processes for preventing exposure.
MDPH proposes a continued partnership with academic and medical professionals to translate environmental health science into educational strategies that engage clinicians on environmental health issues. MDPH will promote the integration of environmental health curricula and patient-focused content into pre- and post-licensure clinical educational programs. This partnership aims to achieve the following outcomes: (1) increased knowledge among medical, nursing, and allied health students and professionals to identify, reduce, prevent, and treat health effects from harmful environmental exposures; (2) increased availability of environmental health educational materials for clinicians; (3) increased ability of clinicians to triage community environmental exposure concerns; (4) increased understanding of environmental health interventions that reduce or prevent health effects from harmful exposures; (5) maintain a model clinical or state public
health service training program for clinicians seeking a professional opportunity as a fellow in environmental health; (6) maintain state-based training program with free continuing education credits; (7) reduced burden of environmental diseases; and (8) increased evidence of trained fellows to implement primary prevention strategies.