142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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313821
Environmental Health in Early Care and Education Settings: Evidence-Based Standards

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 : 2:30 PM - 2:50 PM

Marilyn J. Krajicek, EdD, RN, FAAN , College of Nursing, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO
  
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
Millions of children are being cared for in early care and education programs every day. Keeping children of all ages healthy and safe is vital, yet our youngest children are especially vulnerable when being cared for in these settings. Young children are more vulnerable to exposures of contaminated environmental toxins when compared to adults because their bodies are developing; they eat more, drink more, and breathe more in proportion to their body size; and their behavior, such as crawling and hand-to-mouth activity, can expose them more to chemicals/toxins. Maintaining a healthy, toxic-free physical environment positively impacts the health and well-being of the children served. Further, environmental responsibility is an impor­tant concept to teach and practice daily. And early care and education programs are no exception.

The AAP, the APHA, and the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education (NRC) recently produced* Caring for Children's Environmental Health in Early Care and Education, a sub-collection of Caring for Our Chil­dren: National Health and Safety Performance Standards; Guidelines for Early Care and Education Programs, 3rd Edition (CFOC3). These standards represent the best evidence and expertise in the country on quality health and safety practices and policies for today’s early care and education settings. This environmental health collection presents those CFOC3 standards that address several key environmental topic areas, e.g. lead, radon, plastics, etc. This environmental collection are recommended for use by caregivers/teachers, families, health consultants, licensors/regulators, policymakers, early childhood systems, and researchers.

*By 2014 APHA Annual Meeting.

Learning Areas:

Advocacy for health and health education
Environmental health sciences
Public health or related education
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Public health or related nursing

Learning Objectives:
Identify the most critical environmental health-related issues for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers who attend early care and education programs. Explain how national health and safety standards address the environmental health of early care and education settings. Discuss common successes and challenges related to addressing these critical issues. Demonstrate 3-5 strategies for creating a healthy environment for young children in early care and education programs.

Keyword(s): Child Health, Environmental Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a nationally-known nurse educator in interdisciplinary education for care of infants and children with disabilities and chronic conditions. She currently directs the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care & Early Education, of which the main resource is Caring for Our Children, 3rd Edition, a set of 686 evidence-based health and safety clinical practice standards. Close to half of these standards are environmental health-related. This is not a commercial product.
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.

Back to: 4343.0: Environmental Health in Child Care