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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Environmental Health: A Clear Identity
CDR Anna Khan, MA, REHS/RS
S eptember is National Preparedness Month and serves as an annual re- minder for individuals, families, and communities to assess their readiness and take proactive steps to mitigate risks. As environmental public health practitioners, we are not strangers to emergency prepared- ness and response work. We play a critical role by planning for and addressing the im- pact of disasters on public health. Climate change, however, threatens to alter the way we approach emergency preparedness and response in our communities. For example, there are parts of our country that used to have a distinct wildfire season. Wildfires can now strike during any month throughout the year in some parts of our country due to unpredictable and erratic weather sys- tems. With the changes in weather systems, we also have changes in the risk of other is- sues such as disease vectors and outbreaks, which are becoming more widespread. There is, however, another uncertain aspect of our profession that we need to face—a clear identity. In addition to all the challenges posed by climate change now and in the near future, we are at a critical crossroads in our profes- sion. If environmental health is the corner- stone of public health, have we positioned ourselves to rise to this challenge now and in the future? Does the public understand our role in public health preparedness and response? We need to ensure environmen- tal health is understood and included by default in public health guidance and policy just like essential ingredients are “baked in” when preparing a recipe.
our public health impact is and came up with a slogan for us: “Live fully with clean air, water, and food.” When I think about messages that can accompany our slogan, I think about how to summarize our wide-ranging and complex contributions into a few words. While I was at the IFEH World Congress, I attended a presentation about environmen- tal health and what environmental health practitioners do. The presenter stated four main practice areas to help environmental health practitioners discuss their role in environmental health: 1) leading and inno- vating, 2) collaborating, 3) helping, and 4) protecting. These critical ingredients are tenets of environmental health practice. Whether we are in the field (in the private or public sector) or in academia, we can all find ourselves working in at least one of these practice areas. I would love to hear your stories with one of these elements as the theme. Over the next year, I hope to capture our perspectives and experiences in these areas. I am convinced that we will all learn that despite our wide- ranging areas of practice, we have more in common in the service of public health than we realize. I hope that you will provide feed- back because it aects all of us as well as our families, friends, and future generations. I want our slogan and our stories to ade- quately stress the impact and benefit we bring to our communities, locally and glob- ally. Then, we can build on this promise by sharing our impact through metrics and numbers. Each of us has our own uniquely personal story that can help paint a more
I think we have a branding issue in envi- ronmental health. In fact, this issue is shared by our colleagues across the globe. I recently returned from Australia where I was attend- ing and presenting at the International Fed- eration of Environmental Health (IFEH) World Congress on Environmental Health. The issue I heard over and over—both in my workshop as well as in other presentations— was that not enough people understand our contribution to public health. I have been thinking about this issue since then. How can we change this lack of awareness? Some industries and groups have a catchy slogan or motto to first gain your interest while getting their core values across. Then they follow up with a main message included in a personal story with impactful metrics. For example, common slogans include: “Doc- tors save lives” and “GE brings good things to life.” I thought about how all-encompassing We need to ensure environmental health is understood and included by default in public health guidance and policy.
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