142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

313640
Building and Nurturing a Citizen Science Network with fishermen and fishing communities post DWH Oil Disaster

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 : 4:30 PM - 4:45 PM

John Sullivan, MA , Preventive Medicine & Community Health, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX
Sharon Croisant, MS, PhD , Associate Professor: Department of Pediatrics (CEIID); Director: NIEHS COEC, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX
Wilma Subra, MS , Technical Advisor, Louisiana Environmental Action Networks, Baton Rouge, LA
Marylee Orr, Director: Louisiana Environmental Action Network , LEAN, Louisiana Environmental Action Network, Baton Rouge, LA
Marilyn Howarth, MD , Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Cornelis Elferink, PhD , Pharmacology & Toxicology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX
Presentation will focus on roles of community subsistence / commercial fishermen, community hub coordinators and GC-HARMS project community outreach and dissemination core personnel in systematic marine life sampling and subsequent communication of seafood consumption risk information to Gulf coast communities impacted by the DWH spill.  Presentation will explore the dynamics of creating and maintaining a multi-directional communication network and grounding the project directly in each affected community.   Methods of integrating the needs and sensitivities of Environmental Justice communities with pre-existing burdens of cumulative risk into outreach and dissemination plans will be discussed in depth with particular emphasis on the novel role of training working commercial / subsistence fishermen as citizen scientists and peer-to-peer environmental health educators.  GC-HARMS spans a four state area (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas), includes the United Houma nation, the Mississippi Coalition of Vietnamese-American Fisher Folk & Families, and the Center for Environmental & Economic Justice as clinical study hubs, the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN), as a regional hub delivering sampling training and project information, and the Alabama Fisheries Cooperative, as a seafood sampling hub for Mobile Bay, and Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organizing (BISCO) as an information hub in Terrebonne, Lafourche and Jefferson Parishes (S Louisiana).  Collaborating universities include: University of Texas Medical Branch as lead (Galveston TX), Texas A&M University (Marine Sciences Center, Galveston TX), University of Pennsylvania (NIEHS P30 Center for Excellence in Environmental Toxicology) and Louisiana State University.

Learning Areas:

Environmental health sciences

Learning Objectives:
Explain the ways in which a Community-Based Participatory approach to environmental health research enhances scientific expertise with local knowledge Analyze the process of developing protocols / curriculum for integration of citizen science into rigorous environmental health research Describe how citizen science leverages and expands potential environmental health risk communication local and regional networks

Keyword(s): Environmental Health, Communication

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been actively involved in the development of sampling / educational protocols used in the GC-HARMS CODC citizen science component of our Deep Water Horizon Spill study. My duties within the CODC include: implementation of citizen scientist training process, delivery of environmental health information on risk to citizen scientists and their communities as results emerge from study, maintenance of CODC connections with all community hubs involved in project.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.