1-074 - Increasing Public Understanding of Environmental Influences on Children’s Health Through Community Engagement

Session Type: Exchange Symposium

Integrative Statement

Exposure to environmental toxins dispoportionaly affects low income and minority children and families. Exposure to lead, plastics, pesticides, and poor air quality at key developmental periods is associated with risk for developmental delays, compromised hormonal systems, and behavioral problems. However, public understanding of the relative risk of these exposures and consequences to children’s health is relatively low. This engagement symposium will provide examples from three efforts connected with the Children’s Environmental Health Center’s (CEHC) to promote public understanding of exposures to environmental toxins and child development. The first presentation will describe a community led effort to address lead poisoning in housing in Michigan in partnership with a Community Outreach and Translation Core (COTC) of a (CEHC). The second presentation will describe efforts to understand childcare providers understanding of environmental health and the need to expand definitions to become more inclusive of broader concerns such as when it is safe to send their children outside given air quality concerns. The third presentation will describe how Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units (PEHSU’s) provide a practice based approach to train pediatricians and other health care professionals to respond and educate parents, health care professionals and stakeholders about the importance of environmental influences on children’s health. The discussant is a federal official tied to the national program specializing in public understanding. We aim to engage SRCD in these broader translational efforts.

Sub Unit

• Diversity, Equity & Social Justice

Chair

• Barbara Fiese, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Discussant

• Liam O'Fallon, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH

Individual Presentations

• Healthy Homes: Building Community Partnerships for Lead Mitigation Education and Parent Empowerment in Michigan - Presenting Author: Alison L. Miller, University of Michigan School of Public Health; Non-Presenting Author: Paul Haan, Healthy Homes Coalition of West Michigan, Grand Rapids, MI; Non-Presenting Author: Laura Arboleda, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Dept of Nutrition Sciences; Non-Presenting Author: Robin Lee, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Dept of Nutrition Sciences; Non-Presenting Author: Hurley Riley, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education; Non-Presenting Author: Luke Montrose, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health Sciences; Non-Presenting Author: Karen Peterson, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Dept of Nutrition Sciences

• Getting a Handle on Child Care Providers Knowledge About Children's Environmental Health - Presenting Author: Brenda Koester, University of Illinois at Urbana Champain; Non-Presenting Author: Stephanie Sloane, Family Resiliency Center, University of Illinois at Urbana Chamapaign; Non-Presenting Author: Barbara Fiese, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units: A Unique Role in Protecting Children’s Health - Presenting Author: Susan Buchanan, University of Illinois at Chicago