Sewage and Water Program CDC Environmental Health Capacity Grant Activities
The Private Well Program has partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Environmental Health Association through a cooperative grant (Strengthening environmental health capacity to detect, prevent, and control environmental health hazards through data-driven, evidence-based approaches CDC-RFA-EH20-2005. The grant seeks to strengthen the nation’s environmental health capacity to protect public health by strengthening the capacity of public health department environmental health programs through the use EH data and information for data-driven decision making, identifying and addressing EH hazards and assessing the effectiveness and impact of EH services and interventions.
The grant is divided into three main components: A, B and C.
Components
The project goal for A is to improve data integrity through training and education of the environmental health workforce. VDH in cooperation with NEHA has produces four webinars, available to anyone on the TRAIN platform, focusing on the importance of data, data integrity, and using data for making public health decisions:
The series is now available in TRAIN under the title VDH: Role of Environmental Health Specialists in Maintaining Environmental Data Integrity ID# 1100440
| TRAIN Title | TRAIN ID# & Link | YouTube Title |
| VDH: EHS & Data Integrity 1: Data Quality, Importance and Best Practices (Recorded Webinar) | 1100309 | Role of Environmental Health Specialists in Maintaining Environmental Data Integrity – Webinar 1 |
| VDH: EHS & Data Integrity 2: Data Standardization and Accountability (Recorded Webinar) | 1100311 | Role of Environmental Health Specialists in Maintaining Environmental Data Integrity – Webinar 2 |
| VDH: EHS & Data Integrity 3: Data Quality Improvement (Recorded Webinar) | 1100312 | Role of Environmental Health Specialists in Maintaining Environmental Data Integrity – Webinar 3 |
| VDH: EHS & Data Integrity 4: Data Analysis and Visualization (Recorded Webinar) | 1100314 | Role of Environmental Health Specialists in Maintaining Environmental Data Integrity – Webinar 4 |
The project goal for component C is to strengthen environmental health capacity for preparedness and resiliency for extreme weather events, specifically in the Three Rivers Health District, through standardizing data on private water, community water, and septic systems. Component C Activity 4 was to adapt and disseminate current educational resources and trainings on how EH data can be used to identify EH hazards and support data-driven decision-making. NEHA has provided the following webinars (soon to be posted on TRAIN):
Webinar 1 - EH Data Webinar Series: Developing a GIS Tool to Drive Data-Driven Decision Making for the Virginia Private Well Program
In partnership with the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), the National Environmental Health Association is hosting a webinar series on how to use environmental health data to make data-driven decisions.
Title: Developing a GIS Tool to Drive Data-Driven Decision Making for the Virginia Private Well Program
Speaker: Megan Senseman, Virginia Department of Health
Description: This presentation will highlight the VDH’s outcomes of working collaboratively with the Three Rivers Health District in Virginia and NEHA to create a GIS mapping tool, using information from VDH’s Statewide Environmental Health Database (EHD) and data from other sources.
When: August 5 at 2 pm ET
Webinar 2 - EH Data Webinar Series: From Data to Action - AZ Public Health Tracking Network
In partnership with the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), the National Environmental Health Association is hosting a webinar series on how to use environmental health data to make data-driven decisions.
Title – From Data to Action - AZ Public Health Tracking Network
Speaker: Niki Lajevardi- Khosh and Hsini Lin, Arizona State Department of Health
Description: This presentation will provide an overview the AZ Tracking Network and how we have used data to improve public health.
When: August 8 at 3 pm ET
Webinar 3 - EH Data Webinar Series: Best Practices for Amplifying the Impact of Food Service and Retail Inspections
In partnership with the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), the National Environmental Health Association is hosting a webinar series on how to use environmental health data to make data-driven decisions.
Title - Best Practices for Amplifying the Impact of Food Service and Retail Inspections
Speaker: Arash Nasibi, Hazel Analytics
Description: This webinar will share help health agency officials understand both the current state of health inspection data, from the perspective of our private-sector customers, and opportunities for improvement. The webinar will share insights on four general principles that are fundamental to inspection data publication - online data availability, ease of access, timeliness, and detail and accuracy.
When: August 9 at 1 pm ET
Webinar 4 - EH Data Webinar Series: How Washington State Department of Health’s Tracking Program Uses EH Data to Promote Data-Driven Decision-Making for Climate and Health
In partnership with the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), the National Environmental Health Association is hosting a webinar series on how to use environmental health data to make data-driven decisions.
Title – How Washington State Department of Health’s Tracking Program Uses EH Data to Promote Data-Driven Decision-Making for Climate and Health Program
Speaker: Jennifer Sabel, Washington State Department of Health
Description: This presentation will provide an overview of the WA Tracking Network and how they have used climate and health data to improve public health.
When: August 10 at 2 pm ET
Webinar 5 - EH Data Webinar Series: Standardizing Private Well Data
In partnership with the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), the National Environmental Health Association is hosting a webinar series on how to use environmental health data to make data-driven decisions.
Title – Standardizing Private Well Data
Speaker: Sam Dye, Gaston County Department of Health
Description: This presentation will provide an overview on how Gaston County set out to standardize private domestic well data. This presentation will feature how Gaston County is developing various standardized and improved methods to estimate the number and distribution of private wells within a county and/or state, in addition to determining the risk of contaminant exposure to private wells users through spatial analysis.
When: August 11 at 4 pm ET
Under Component C Strategy 1 Activity 1, OEHS developed an online GIS community platform/mapping tool that will share information on installed water and wastewater systems from the VDH statewide EHD along with existing data from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), floodplain data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and data from Resource Protected Area/Resource Management Areas; all of which would be use by local environmental health program planning and impacted communities to identify EH hazards and help strengthen resiliency planning for the region. There is a public platform that protects some personal information such as specific well locations an internal version for VDH and other state employees:
https://virginiahealth.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=fb9f7ed7f1934549b4aa44bf6ab5e557
Coming soon from Component C, Activity 2: A webinar created by VDH in cooperation with Virginia Tech will soon be made available for all private well and onsite sewage system stakeholders Virginia Private Wells, Septic Systems and Small Community Systems during Flooding and Storm Events: Maintenance, Preparedness and Best Practices for Recovery.
Also under Component C, Strategy 2, Activity 1 will be a resource document for environmental health specialists in participating in their county Emergency Response and Resiliency activities with messaging directed at private well and onsite sewage system owners.