Bernalillo County is challenged by unique environmental health concerns related to population growth and urban sprawl in a desert environment. To quantitatively assess environmental health of the County, the Bernalillo County Environmental Health Department (BCEHD) is developing an environmental health report card. The primary objectives of the report card are to comprehensively evaluate environmental health status and inform community members and decision- makers of environmental conditions. During the New Mexico Environmental Health Conference, a survey designed to determine environmental health concerns affecting Bernalillo County residents was distributed to attendees. Comments from survey respondents were sorted into ten major environmental health theme categories. Water and air quality ranked highest among the concerns.
Input from an Advisory Committee, consisting of local experts and community leaders, was critical to the development of the environmental health report card. Through an iterative process, committee members determined criteria for selecting environmental health indicators and appropriate data to measure them. The final product will serve as a measurement tool for the County's environmental health status. In addition, the report card will be instrumental in developing priorities and benchmarks to address environmental health concerns and communicating environmental health conditions to residents. The presentation will outline BCEHD's process in developing a community environmental health report card and its impact on the community.
Learning Objectives: At the end of this presentation, participants will be able to: 1. Determine community-specific environmental health issues; 2.. Articulate the process for developing criteria to select environmental health indicators; 3. Demonstrate an understanding of how to use data to assess environmental health indicators; 4. Identify the challenges in developing indicator measurements; 5. List at least three different uses of an noenvironmental health report card
Keywords: Environmental Health, Indicators
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.