Using CBPR results to advocate policy development in an environmental justice community: The enrrich project

Asthma remains a public health threat affecting over 7 million children (9.4%) in the U.S. Underserved areas, such as San Bernardino County, CA are disproportionately affected, with 15% of children diagnosed with asthma. These high rates of childhood asthma are in part due to the County's location downwind from the Los Angeles basin's air pollution but in addition, many suspect that emissions from the local railyards are further culprits for these elevated rates. In a recent risk assessment, the local BNSF railyard was ranked 2nd highest in pollution levels and 1st in community risk, as a large low income Latino population lives directly adjacent to the railyard. As such, vulnerable children, with their developing respiratory systems, attending school in this community are likely to experience increased exposure to pollutants and greater risk of respiratory health problems. Consequently, Loma Linda University's Project ENRRICH, a community-based-participatory research program in partnership with the Breathmobile and community partner CCAEJ, assessed respiratory health in over 1,000 children at two local elementary schools. Preliminary results indicate that 50% of children screened either had or were at high-risk for asthma; a rate much higher than national or even average County levels. Such rates are further indicative of a potential linkage between goods movement-related emissions and poor respiratory health in children. This calls for comprehensive policy changes to reduce the health risks for this extremely vulnerable and underserved population. We will examine local efforts involving multiple stakeholders toward the formulation of a comprehensive policy and mitigation response plan.