Building leadership on indoor environment and health, an environmental response to asthma in a poor urban school community


Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

4080.0: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - Board 2

Abstract #116482

Paula Schenck, MPH¹, Pamela J. Clark, RN, MPH², and Eileen Storey, MD, MPH¹. (1) Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of Connecticut Health Center, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT 06030-6210, 860-679-2368, schenck@nso2.uchc.edu, (2) Health Services Department, Hartford Public Schools, 153 Market Street, Hartford, CT 06103

The burden of asthma in Hartford CT is a significant public health concern; the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America identified Hartford as the 10th United States Asthma Capital (AAFA, 2004). The 22,350 students in Hartford Public Schools (HPS) are 95% minority, 40% black and 53 % Hispanic, and attend 45 schools. Over 95% qualify for free/reduced price meals (2003-04). With an interest in intervening on the role indoor school environments may have on children with asthma, and as a companion to HPS's programs to improve school nurse skills to better serve children with asthma, HPS initiated an innovative “train the trainer” program. The goal was to create a leadership cohort from within the school community with knowledge on indoor air quality and EPA's Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools (Tools) that would support sustainable efforts across the district and foster improvements in the indoor environment that would reduce children's exposure to asthma risk factors in the school buildings.

The results to date are: 15 leadership teams (school nurse, administrator, custodian, teachers, parents) have completed formal Train the Trainer programs; 22 schools have school community teams implementing Tools in their individual school buildings; 9 of these teams have completed school-based Tools, and implementation of recommendations has begun. Evaluation is part of the protocol throughout the program. The HPS initiated this innovative program with these partners: Region 1 EPA, the University of Connecticut Health Center and the CT School Resource Team led by the CT Department of Health.

Learning Objectives:

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to
- • Articulate a model that uses mentoring and leadership development to actively involve community members in environmental intervention activity
- • Recognize the strength of partnerships to develop targeted public health initiatives in settings of severe resource limitation such as in poor urban school districts
- • Identify risk factors in school building environments that affect to asthma
Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Communities Working Together for Prevention and Improved Health Awareness
The 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition (December 10-14, 2005) of APHA