PACE-EH_Escambia0107

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PACE EH (Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health)

For more information on this project, contact Robert Merritt, Environmental Health Director, or Mary Beverly, PACE EH Coordinator at the Escambia County Health Department. All pdfs open in a new window.

ESCAMBIA COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT
January/February PACE EH Project Update

Date: February 13, 2007

To: Daniel Parker, MSP
Assistant Division Director, Division of Environmental Health

From: Mary Beverly
PACE-EH Coordinator

Through: Robert Merritt
Environmental Health Director

Subject: Kupfrian Park PACE EH Project

1. Project Summary

The January meeting was postponed so that I could arrange for a new location to try and accommodate the residents who have not been able to make the evening meetings at the Retirement Village. On February 7th from 3:00-4:30 we held our 5th meeting at the Lakeview Activity Center, which is more centrally located in the neighborhood.

Thirteen attendees (7 Governmental and 6 Residents) were present.
County Commissioner ?Marie Young? was able to attend along with a ?Front Porch Florida? Representative, County Engineering, County Redevelopment, Emerald Coast Utility Authority and County Code Enforcement representatives.
The subject of public sewer was revisited to investigate cost and to find out whether a partnership could be made between the Emerald Coast Utility Authority and the County Engineering Department to install lines at the same time with the same contractor.
Code Enforcement issues were raised at this particular meeting. The participating residents complained about the abandoned homes and cars, and the dumping of debris. It was expressed that we should try to handle this issue in a manner that can be helpful and educational to the residents instead of using enforcement right away.
A company called ?Clean and Green? was mentioned as a source for abandoned car removal, and I plan to investigate.
The County Engineer stated that it may be 6 months before she can have a construction plan in place for the storm water corrections and street improvements. However, money has been allocated through a local funding source. Thompson Engineering has been hired for the work already and has been represented at these meetings.

2. Work Plan and Process Update

PACE-EH Tasks	Action	Outcome	Target Date
Task 1: Determine Community Capacity	-Specific resources, skills and capacities needed for the project have been identified.	All complete	August 21, 2006
	-Obtain inservice training.
	-Review State of Florida PACE-EH projects to use as models.
	-Establish new working relationships with other agencies, businesses and organizations.
	-Identify potential strengths and weaknesses of community.
	-Determine community capacity
	-Conduct first community meeting
Task 2: Define and Characterize the Community	-Assess community partners to help determine community involvement	All complete	September 30, 2006
	-Describe the community?s characteristics, composition, organization and leadership
	-Refine the definition of the community as needed
	-Conduct a pre-pace survey
Task 3: Assemble Community Environmental Health Assessment Team	-Clarify expectations and duties of ECHD EH team members	Started formation but want more members. Need to define governing structure and ground rules.	February 10, 2007
	-Identify community partners for CEHAT and clarify expectations and duties
	-Determine a governing structure, decision-making structure, and ground rules
Task 4: Define the Goals of the Assessment	-Establish goals and objectives for the assessment	Still pending-working with County officials and residents to establish goals - financial commitments are needed for sewer projects	February 10, 2007
	-Describe the vision that will guide the process
	-Describe the scope of issues to be addressed by the assessment
	-Define key terms
Task 5: Generate the Environmental Health Issue List	-Collect data on community concerns	Completed for the most part, still working on attitudes, behaviors and perceptions	September 30, 2006-November 2006
	-Collect data on community knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions
	-Create a manageable list of issues
Task 6: Analyze Issues with a Systems Framework	-Understand the framework.	Pending	February 30, 2007
	-Identify the connections among health status, affected populations, exposure factors, environmental agents/conditions, contributing factors and behaviors, and public health protection factors for selected environmental health issues.
Task 7: Develop Locally Appropriate Indicators	-Develop a list of potential indicators	Pending	July 31, 2007
	-Identify key indicators based on selected criteria.
Task 8: Select Standards	-Identify standards that will assist us in determining the EH status of the community	Pending	February 28, 2007
	-Agree upon locally appropriate standards.
Task 9: Create Environmental Health Issue Profiles	-Adopt a standardized format for organizing information.	Working on now. May be able to combine survey with "Front Porch" results	February 28, 2007
	-Gather information.
	-Collect data for locally developed indicators.
	-Develop a summary statement.
Task 10: Rank the Environmental Health Issues	-Determine the purpose of ranking.	All complete	August 2006
	-Decide on ranking criteria.
	-Select a method for ranking.
	-Rank the issues.
Task 11: Set Priorities for Action	-Determine local priority-setting criteria.	All complete	November 2006
	-Select a method for prioritizing
	-Determine priorities.
Task 12: Develop an Action Plan	-Develop goals and objectives.	Working on now	February 28, 2007
	-Identify contributing factors.
	-Identify possible interventions and prevention activities.
	-Identify community assets.
	-Identify potential barriers.
	-Select an intervention/activity.
	-Determine resource needs.
	-Identify potential partners.
	-Provide training.
	-Develop timeframe.
	-Determine measures of success.
Task 13: Evaluate Progress and Plan for the Future	-Agree on the questions to be answered by the evaluation.	Pending	July 2007
	-Evaluate the success of the assessment process.
	-Begin preparations for ongoing community based environmental health assessment activities.

3. Outstanding Issues/Concerns

Concern still exists over the small representation from the neighborhood residents, and we are trying every way we can to get more interest. The ECHD deployed the ?Shot Mobile? at the location of this month?s meeting to give flu shots prior to the meeting. We are still trying to get an article published in the local newspaper in hopes that it will draw additional attention to our efforts.