YOUR ASSOCIATION
Open Access
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Let Your Light Shine— Claim Your Space!
Larry A. Ramdin, MPH, MA, REHS/RS, CP-FS, HHS, CHO
E nvironmental health is the second larg- est workforce in public health (Ryan et al., 2021). Despite our numbers within the public health workforce, we remain large- ly unnoticed and underappreciated. We as environmental health practitio- ners are more than the enforcers of envi- ronmental health laws and regulations (i.e., the “environmental health police”). We are educators, changemakers, and protectors of the public at every moment of their daily lives. We are involved in food safety, waste- water disposal and control, recreational waters, water quality, and air pollution, just to name a few of our areas of responsibil- ity. The animated video from the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA, 2021), Environmental Health Professionals: Your Unseen Army of Protectors , highlights our role in protecting our communities as environmental health scientists. As such, we are doers not talkers. In many societies, self-promotion is viewed negatively, but if we do not promote our- selves then who will? NEHA has embarked on renewed eorts to highlight the profession and the work we do, how we impact human lives, and how we protect the environments we live in. We all must do our part, now! Therefore, it is essential to educate our peers, principals, and communities on who we are and what we do. We need to claim our space and let our light shine. In preparing for my second column. I wondered what was special about September. September is National Disaster Preparedness Month and National Food Safety Education Month. More importantly for environmental
When I taught the communication module of the leadership workshop held as a precon- ference oering at the NEHA Annual Edu- cational Conference (AEC) & Exhibition, I encountered Wesley Nicks, director of envi- ronmental health in Placer County, California. Wesley’s oce produced a local video high- lighting all that environmental health does to protect their community, which stars his envi- ronmental health team (Placer County, 2019). In my first stint as a local public health direc- tor, I filmed two segments on food safety in the home for local cable TV. Engage with your local cable access TV station, they are always looking for content and will work with you to tell your story and educate your communities. Always be on the lookout to build relation- ships that will promote what you do. We can also look into hosting a regular program about environmental health guid- ance and tools the public can use to assist us in achieving our goals. Environmental health practitioners can bring and share their scientific knowledge to improve behav- iors and reduce environmental health risks in the community. In the post COVID-19 pandemic period, where I worked in Waterford, Massachusetts, was inundated with rodent complaints. My chief environmental ocer came to me with an idea she wanted to develop after discuss- ing it with her team. They were concerned that using natural jack-o’-lanterns (i.e., pumpkins) would provide food for rodents and draw them to homes. They wanted to recommend using artificial jack-o’-lanterns for the Halloween season, as well as provide alternative options for people who chose to
It is essential to educate our peers,
principals, and communities on who we are and what we do.
health, we celebrate World Environmental Health Day on September 26. This celebra- tion solely focuses on our profession and our- selves! How do we seize the moment? What do we do? Where do we go? We can learn from other practitioners about what they have done to promote the profession and celebrate our successes. In 2018 when I was the regional vice-president of NEHA’s Region 9, I was invited by Phyl- lis Amadio, president of the Connecticut Environmental Health Association, to pres- ent the NEHA Certificate of Merit to their board of directors. They did sterling work in getting World Environmental Health Day proclaimed as Connecticut Environmen- tal Health Day. And a year later, they con- vinced the Connecticut governor to declare the entire week as Environmental Health Week. We can take a page out of their book and contact legislators, governors, mayors, county board members, and other man- agement groups to issue proclamations for World Environmental Health Day.
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Volume 88 • Number 2
https://doi.org/10.70387/001c.143996
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