ADVANCEMENT OF THE PRACTICE
Open Access
DIRECT FROM EHAC
From Classrooms to Communities: Impact Stories From Accredited Environmental Health Programs
Tania Busch Isaksen, MPH, PhD University of Washington
safety of your food? Did you wonder where your waste went? Did you worry about the air you breathed?” Nearly every head shakes, “No.” Only when I mention concerns about wildfire smoke do hands go up. I point out that this peace of mind exists because there is a profession working tirelessly behind the scenes to prevent harm before it happens. To help bring these invisible successes to light, I reached out to the environmental health academic programs that are accredited by the National Environmental Health Sci- ence and Protection Accreditation Council (EHAC) and asked them to share stories that illustrate the real-world impact of their work. In preparing this collection, we edited sub- missions using a storytelling framework to highlight the challenge or need, the actions taken, and the outcomes or impact achieved (Davidson, 2017; Fadlallah et al., 2019). The following collection highlights their diverse eorts, making visible the often-unseen con- tributions of academicians and their support of the environmental health profession, and revealing the profound dierence they make in our communities—one safe glass of water, clean breath of air, and healthy meal at a time. While these stories are organized by topical area to highlight the range of environmental health challenges addressed, several unifying themes emerge. Across all domains, programs demonstrate a commitment to hands-on, community-engaged research; innovative, applied learning; and the development of a skilled, resilient workforce. Students and faculty are not only responding to immediate public health needs but also building part- nerships, advancing environmental justice, and preparing the next generation of leaders.
Editor’s Note: To promote the growth of the environmental health profession and the academic programs that fuel that growth, the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) has teamed up with the National Environmental Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council (EHAC) to publish two columns a year in the Journal . The mission of EHAC is to enhance the education and training of students in environmental health science and protection. Through this column, EHAC will share current trends within undergraduate and graduate environmental health programs, as well as highlight available resources and the eorts to further the environmental health field. The conclusions of this column are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views or ocial position of NEHA. Dr. Tania Busch Isaksen is a teaching professor and the undergraduate program coordinator for the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington. In addition to her teaching and administrative responsibilities, she maintains an active, practice-based research portfolio focused on public health outcomes associated with extreme heat and wildfire smoke exposures, risk communication methods, public health adaptation planning and response related to climate change, and sustainable materials management.
I have been thinking a lot these days about good storytelling—not just as a way to cut through the noise of misinformation, but as a means to communicate the true im- pact of prevention. So much of what we do in environmental health is about ensuring that nothing happens, that no one gets sick from their water, food, or air. But when we do our jobs well, our success is invisible, making it a challenge to communicate the value of our
work to people who have never had to think twice about these essential daily services. In my Introduction to Environmental Health class, I start each quarter with a simple exercise: I ask students to think about their morning routines—pouring a glass of water from the tap, eating breakfast, flushing the toilet, and commuting to campus. Then I ask, “Were you worried about getting sick from your water? Did you question the
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Volume 88 • Number 2
https://doi.org/10.70387/001c.144002
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