on how local environmental health depart- ments should be structured, sta ed, and funded. As a result, many local environ- mental health programs lack the ability to o er evidence-based recommendations on the sta ing and resources necessary to pro- vide essential services, which leaves com- munities at greater risk of environmentally caused diseases. Based on the information in this review, the following recommendations are presented to develop a standardized local environmental health department structure: 1.Define the services and programs that envi- ronmental health departments should be structured and sta ed to provide, including both required and recommended services. Equipment and technology required to carry out these services should also be identified. 2.Develop a new methodology to create sta - ing benchmarks that takes into account individual health department structure, setting, and provided services. 3.Establish a funding structure based on resources needed to retain su cient sta ,
maintain necessary equipment and tech- nology, and perform essential services. 4.Establish a credentialing requirement for environmental health employees. 5. Prioritize identified workforce development needs, including budgeting and financial management, systems and strategic think- ing, increased leadership development opportunities, and strengthening support for the environmental health profession. 6.Identify organizations and agencies that may be interested in partnering with the environmental health department and sharing resources and personnel. The information contained in this review consists of existing reports, studies, and sur- veys. Additional research in the form of inter- views and surveys with local environmental health professionals from urban, rural, and frontier communities is needed to gather intel- ligence on the funding, sta ng, and resource needs of local environmental health programs. Interviews and surveys should be used to identify a methodology for determining sta - ing benchmarks for environmental health
departments. NEHA will use the results of this research to develop an environmental health program standard that accurately reflects the current challenges and future needs of the environmental health profession. The activities performed by environmental health professionals—including assessment, assurance, policy development, surveillance, enforcement, and risk communication—are crucial for safeguarding community health and safety. Through this review, we aim to inform the development of an environmen- tal health department standard that can be adopted by local health departments and independent environmental health agen- cies to ensure that jurisdictions are properly equipped and that residents have access to suitable environmental health services. Corresponding Author: Gina Bare, Associate Director, Program and Partnership Develop- ment, National Environmental Health Asso- ciation, 720 South Colorado Boulevard, Suite 105A, Denver, CO 80246-1910. Email: gbare@neha.org.
References
Association of State and Territorial Health O cials. (2014). Profile of state environmental health: Summary and analysis of workforce changes from 2010–2012 . Bekemeier, B., Yip, M.P.-Y., Dunbar, M.D., Whitman, G., & Kwan- Gett, T. (2015). Local health department food safety and sanita- tion expenditures and reductions in enteric disease, 2000–2010. American Journal of Public Health , 105 (Suppl. 2), S345–S352. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302555 de Beaumont Foundation, Association of State and Territorial Health O cials, National Association of County and City Health O cials, & Big Cities Health Coalition. (2017). 2017 national findings: Pub- lic Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey . https://debeaumont. org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/PH-WINS-2017.pdf de Beaumont Foundation, & Public Health National Center for Innovations. (2021). Sta ng up: Workforce levels needed to pro- vide basic public health services for all Americans [Research brief]. https://debeaumont.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Staffing- Up-FINAL.pdf Dyjack, D.T., Case, P., Marlow, H.J., Soret, S., & Montgomery, S. (2007). California’s county and city environmental health services delivery system. Journal of Environmental Health , 69 (8), 35–43. Fan, D., Li, Y., Liu, W., Yue, X.-G., & Boustras, G. (2021). Weav- ing public health and safety nets to respond to the COVID- 19 pandemic . Safety Science , 134 , Article 105058. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.ssci.2020.105058
Food and Drug Administration. (2022). Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards—Standard 8: Program support and resources . https://www.fda.gov/media/86864/download Gerding, J.A., Brooks, B.W., Landeen, E., Whitehead, S., Kelly, K.R., Allen, A., Banaszynski, D., Dorshorst, M., Drager, L., Eshenaur, T., Freund, J., Inman, A., Long, S., Maloney, J., McKeever, T., Pig- man, T., Rising, N., Scanlan, S., Scott, J., . . . Sarisky, J. (2020). Identifying needs for advancing the profession and workforce in environmental health. American Journal of Public Health , 110 (3), 288–294. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305441 Gerding, J.A., Landeen, E., Kelly, K.R., Whitehead, S., Dyjack, D.T., Sarisky, J., & Brooks, B.W. (2019). Uncovering environmental health: An initial assessment of the profession’s health department workforce and practice. Journal of Environmental Health , 81 (10), 24–33. https://www.neha.org/workforce-and-practice-assessment Leider, J.P., Juliano, C., Castrucci, B.C., Beitsch, L.M., Dilley, A., Nel- son, R., Kaiman, S., & Sprague, J.B. (2015). Practitioner perspec- tives on foundational capabilities. Journal of Public Health Man- agement and Practice , 21 (4), 325–335. https://doi.org/10.1097/ PHH.0000000000000189 Meit, M., Knudson, A., Dickman, I., Brown, A., Hernandez, N., & Kronstadt, J. (2013). An examination of public health financing in the United States: Final report . NORC at the University of Chicago.
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