The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #74644

Lila Wickham, RN, MS, Tricia Tillman, MPH, and Kevin Odell, BA, BFA. Multnomah County Health Department, 727 NE 24th Avenue, Portland, OR 97232, 503 988-3400 x 22404, lila.a.wickham@co.multnomah.or.us

Health consequences associated with environmental conditions are oftentimes not clearly linked. Additionally, low-income and minority communities are often disproportionately affected by environmental hazards. The Multnomah County Health Department (MCHD), in Portland, Oregon, has not developed the internal capacity to effectively investigate health status as it relates to environmental hazards. Likewise, MCHD has not established the public mandate to investigate environmental justice problems. The capacity to address environmental health issues has been hampered by the lack of a systematic way to assess the environmental health of the County. The Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health (PACE EH) is being implemented as a tool to promote leadership among environmental health advocates, involve the community in planning and decision making, and address issues of environmental justice. MCHD will describe the struggles, successes and milestones of this process. MCHD has used the process outlined in PACE EH to define their community, create a community coalition, consisting of subcommittees to guide the assessment process, and used geographic maps to identify an appropriate project area. The following four criteria were used to select the geographic area: 1. Environmental Justice issues translated as a larger percent of people of color, low income, disproportionately affected by environmental health issues, and disenfranchised 2. Multiple exposures, 3. Support wanted from the community, 4. Availability of existing data. An area of concern has been selected by the coalition and we are now in the process of casting a net to have a community self select for participation.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Identify methods used to balance competing priorities
• 2. List strategies for engaging partnerships
• 3. Identify steps used for balancing public health practice with community issues
• 4. Describe methods used to increase short-term infrastructure capacity

Related Web page: mint.co.multnomah.or.us/

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.