Oral

The purpose of this session to inform participants about and encourage the use of free national tools and processes to identify gaps in community environmental health services and to improve equity and performance on behalf of the community’s health All communities are entitled to excellence in environmental public health, which should protect them equitably from threats posed by the environment and offer them equal access to environmental health services. Results from programs voluntarily using the draft national Environmental Public Health Performance Standards (EnvPHPS) show that the tool is consistent in identifying inequities and gaps in performance, and that the use of the tool leads to improvements in community environmental health services. Participants will learn about the history, vision for, data from, and use of the EnvPHPS, and will hear specific examples of how the EnvPHPS have improved community services. Participants will also have the opportunity to hear from the President of the Public Health Accreditation Board, who has worked closely with the environmental health community to insure that the EnvPHPS are aligned with the public health agency accreditation process so that both will provide value to environmental health agencies, practitioners, and communities. Finally, participants will be provided with information on how they can access and use these tools in their own agencies to improve the equity and performance of the services they provide.

Session Objectives: 1. Describe the value of the standards and accreditation processes to improve the equity and performance of community environmental health services 2. List at least three areas of environmental health services that are traditionally scored as low by the voluntary pilot programs, and list the tools available to address those gaps 3. Name at least three resources available at no cost on the internet to help agencies assess the equity of their services and to improve their performance 4. Explain how the accreditation and standards assessment processes work together to enhance environmental health excellence in communities.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)