The Connecticut Department of Public Health (CT DPH) is requesting funding from ATSDR for its proposed program to expand its capacity to reduce exposures to harmful environmental contaminants and educate and engage communities in CT. The overarching goals of CT’s proposed program are to continue building capacity to identify pathways of exposure to hazardous substances in the environment and respond with appropriate public health interventions to reduce the exposures. Our proposed program is structured around the long-term outcome of reducing, preventing or eliminating exposures to hazardous chemicals in the environment. We will continue to use ATSDR's guidance, policies and procedures in carrying out the cooperative agreements goals and objectives. We will also continue to use the following strategies achieve our outcomes: (1) conduct site-specific assessments to evaluate health risks posed by sites, chemical releases, hazardous materials or emergency response action, (2) provide recommendations to prevent, reduce or eliminate harmful exposures posed by hazardous chemicals, (3) identify, develop and maintain partner and stakeholder relationships to support activities, and (4) educate community, stakeholders and health professionals on exposure risks and recommendations. We will continue to sustain our child care SAFER program to prevent exposures to hazardous substances at prospective childcare locations before licensing. CT DPH has received funding from ATSDR for its Cooperative Agreement Program for over 30 years. Over this time, we have built a program that is highly qualified, effective, coordinated and capable of responding to a wide array of hazardous site and general environmental health issues. We have also demonstrated the many positive public health impacts of our work. CT has a clear programmatic need for funding to continue its work. CT proposes to continue housing its program within a single organizational unit to enhance int
egration and coordination of activities. We propose to maintain our current core team of highly skilled, trained, experienced staff of two health assessors and in-kind health education and toxicology support. We will also continue to maintain partnerships with other units across CT DPH and with our partners external to CT DPH. All activities will continue to be planned in close coordination with the ATSDR Technical Project Team. We have prepared a robust workplan for year one containing 8 sites, 7 of which are high priority (significant state, federal, community or media interest). We believe our application demonstrates a clear need for funding and a strong proposed program to address these needs.
