Promoting Environmental Health in Communities

One of the biggest challenges in environmental health is conveying the basic concepts of the environment, toxicology, and health. To help overcome this problem, ATSDR has created Promoting Environmental Health in Communities (PEHC), a collection of factsheets, talking points, and a power point. PEHC is designed to teach communities these concepts and help them better understand recommendations from environmental health professionals.

Consisting of five factsheets, a PowerPoint presentation, and key messages, PEHC is designed to assist professionals deliver the information to specific populations.

Fact Sheets

The five factsheets explain these basic concepts:

• Chemicals, Cancer, and You
• Health Effects of Chemical Exposure
• How Chemical Exposures Happen
• How to Reduce your Exposure to Chemicals at Home, Work, and Play
• Sensitive Populations

PowerPoint Presentations

The PowerPoint can be personalized for any community and combined with local information.

• Preventing Exposure to Hazardous Substances
• Preventing Exposure to Hazardous Substances (with slide transitions)

Key Messages

The key messages are talking points for health professionals to emphasize with the specific populations with which they are working.

• Talking Points for Specific Populations

Because written materials are inherently challenging to comprehend, the five factsheets would ideally be delivered by a skilled educator who can convey the information in a way that is appropriate for the target audience. The components of the PEHC kit can be used individually or collectively.

All of the materials are accessible for download. You can also request additional materials from CDC-INFO by calling 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800- 232-4636, TTY: 888-232-6348) or by emailing cdcinfo@cdc.gov.

i. Christina Zarcadoolas, PhD
ii. http://nces.ed.gov/naal/estimates/Overview.aspx