Day 1 Concurrent Session A (10-11:15)
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A1. Built Environment, Nature, & Health
Sc.D., M.P.H., M.E.M., Portland State University Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) serves approximately 360,000 fares daily in a regional transit system reaching at the extremes from the northern San Francisco peninsula, Pittsburg/Bay Point, Richmond, Dublin/Pleasanton, and Fremont. Personal experience, observation of others, and popular complaint suggest that BART is too loud during rides. We assessed noise exposure using average A-weighted sound level, unweighted peak sound pressure, and A-weighted slow maximum sound pressure for 51 rail segments in 268 measurements. We found very high levels of noise on BART trains which may present a chronic hazard to the hearing, psychosomatic stress, and hypertension risk of BART’s riders.
b) “Measuring the built environment- Indicators for urban Oregon”Dan Rubado, M.P.H., Oregon DHS Public Health Division
The built environment encompasses the places, structures, and transportation systems created by people. The way the built environment is shaped has profound impacts on physical activity, behavior, diet, and public health. This session will describe work being done to develop indicators to measure the built environment in the urban areas of Oregon. The indicators cover topics such as air quality, affordable housing, sustainable transportation, and access to community assets. We are currently collecting data and constructing measures. Once completed, these indicators will be monitored over time and data will be provided to stakeholders through our web-based query system.
c) “Nature as a source of environmental health”Kurt Beil, N.D., M.S.O.M., M.P.H.
This combination lecture/ interactive session will uncover the health benefits of nature in the urban environment. Groundbreaking clinical and epidemiological research will demonstrate how “urban green space” helps to promote health and prevent disease, including examples of reduced prevalence of asthma, cardiovascular disease, depression, and obesity. A holistic model based on socioecological principles will show that such benefits are the result of a variety of interacting levels of health determination. Implications for quality-of-life and healthcare cost impacts will be discussed with regard to this developing area of the Healthy Cities movement.
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A2. Community Collaboration & Social Justice
Ms. Shadbeh and Mr. Sanchez will present the unique processes and results of a four-year National Institutes of Health-funded project that was designed to achieve a better understanding of the occupational health concerns of indigenous farmworkers, and to develop culturally appropriate community-based approaches to address these needs. This project formed a diverse partnership that directly engaged indigenous farmworkers as collaborators in the effort to identify health priorities, increase community awareness, and improve access to services. Project partners included The Oregon Law Center, Portland State University, Farmworker Justice, Salud Medical Center, and Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN).
b) “Health and justice in Alaska: Empowering communities for change” Sarah Petras, M.P.H. & Colleen Keane, B.A., Alaska Community Action on Toxics
This session will demonstrate environmental health and justice efforts in Alaska by presenting a case study of community based participatory research with Alaska Native villages on the Bering Sea coast. Components to be discussed include experiential environmental health field training, an ecotoxicology lab practicum, a study of contaminants in traditional foods, and a Washington D.C. delegation of tribal and community leaders, youth, and elders. These projects foster empowerment, self-advocacy and capacity building in rural communities facing contamination and other environmental injustices in Alaska.
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A3. Greening Your Facility
In recent years healthcare facilities across the country have begun the work to improve the ecological sustainability of their building and operations. These hospitals are transforming everything from how they reduce and manage their waste to green cleaning to energy and resource conservation. This transformation is made possible because of participation throughout the facilities and clinicians have a powerful role to play. We will hear from a hospitals sustainability manager and a clinician active in facility greening efforts.
High consumption of conventionally produced meat and processed meat contributes to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, dementia, and some kinds of cancer contributing to the overwhelming cost of the US health system (estimated to be $147B as a result of obesity management alone) as well as environmental damage such as climate change, water and air pollution. Most hospitals buy substantial amounts of meat, typically through large distributors who source from the U.S. commodity beef, pork and poultry markets.
The food system accounts for over 10 percent of overall energy use in the United States. Globally, livestock for meat and dairy production accounts for 18 percent of greenhouse gases, more than all of Earth’s cars, trains, and planes combined. Learn more about the Balanced Menus strategies.-
A4. Chemical Policy
The current policies that regulate chemicals are ineffective at protecting us from substances that disrupt human development and reproduction. This panel presentation brings together leaders of chemical policy reform in Oregon and Washington. Participants will learn about current federal statutes, existing gaps in data, safety, and technology, and policy options that promise to improve the situation. Participants will be encouraged to ask questions
