142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

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An overview of potential environmental public health and exposure concerns for day care centers

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 : 2:50 PM - 3:10 PM

Derek Shendell, DEnv, MPH , Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Rutgers SPH (and, EOHSI), Piscataway, NJ
In general, children are among the most susceptible (to exposure) and vulnerable (to adverse health outcomes) sub-populations. In child care centers/day care centers (CCC) in public and private settings, the relative focus is on infants (0-1 years old), toddlers (1-2 years old) and pre-K (3-5 years old) sub-groups. Younger children have enhanced susceptibility and vulnerability due to typical behaviors, dependency on adult caregivers, and immune/physical immaturity. This presentation reviews potential environmental exposures and thus risks to health and safety at U.S. CCC from the perspective of a trained environmental and occupational health and safety professional with engineering and field research and practice experience in academia, non-profits and government agencies/laboratories. This presentation frames the specific educational intervention programs currently in use in the U.S. described by participating colleagues from national non-profits and academia. Exposures to be discussed are relevant across age groups, i.e., to young children as well as the working adult caregivers who may be younger or older themselves. Exposures can be biological, chemical (organic and inorganic/metals), physical and ergonomic, and radiological (e.g., naturally occurring radon); there is also an emerging appreciation of the role of social stressors (co-exposure). One example of a project involving a collaboration of academia and the regional office of a federal agency regarding integrated pest management versus chemical pesticide use (pyrethroids) will be summarized. It demonstrated structural and maintenance changes were likely more difficult to implement due to external circumstances such as lack of staff and control over the actual property where CCC were located.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Chronic disease management and prevention
Environmental health sciences
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Occupational health and safety
Protection of the public in relation to communicable diseases including prevention or control

Learning Objectives:
Identify emerging and re-emerging environmental public health issues within public and private day care/child care center settings. Discuss key environmental public health hazards found in and around (outside of) child care facilities. Identify steps to prevent or mitigate potential exposures.

Keyword(s): Child Health Promotion, Environmental Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Derek G. Shendell, D.Env (UCLA Fielding SPH/IoES, 2003), MPH (Yale University SPH, 1998), AB (Dartmouth College, 1996) is faculty in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences. He is co-Director of the Center for School and Community-Based Research and Education; Director of NJ Safe Schools Program (http://www.njsafeschools.org); Co-facilitator, NJ OSHA Alliance; and, a member of Exposure Science Division, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, Rutgers University/RWJMS.
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.