To: Daniel Parker, MSP, GAL Assistant Division Director, Division of Environmental Health From: Julianne Price, Environmental Specialist Through: Cheryl L. Dunn, RS, Environmental Manager Subject: July 2006 Wabasso PACE EH Grant Update ?The buck stops here.? ?Harry S. Truman Throughout the month of July it seemed that a lot of ?passing the buck? relating to the progression and execution of action plans occurred. Seeing an action plan through to the degree of completion is not an easy task and sometimes when the plan has stalled, it can be quite a feat to mobilize events to see it through to fruition. A few obstacles that occurred this month, such as an individual in the community verbally assaulting the water project workers in Wabasso, caused great tension and resulted in workers leaving the site. The disrespectful individual was taken by workers to be representative of the Wabasso community, when in fact; he was going against the community?s wishes. When the progress of your action plans come to a screeching halt and no one is taking ownership of the situation (passing the buck), you must roll up your sleeves, put your thinking cap on and DO SOMETHING (the buck stops here) about it. Standing idle can result in sabotage and will disintegrate a plan that you might have been working arduously upon. Fortunately, this wasn?t the case in Wabasso and the water main construction is progressing despite the recent setback. The issue was resolved by onsite meetings with the disgruntled individual and county officials. The overall decision was to exclude them from the project, despite the fact that the signed easement legally entitled workers to forge on, regardless of what the community member desired.
The most time consuming event this month was administering the West Wabasso Health Assessment: Two Years and Counting. The survey is a means to quantify the PACE EH results in the West Wabasso community from our beginning involvement in January 2004 to the present time. We collected over 110 surveys this month by going door-to-door and at the community meeting which was held on July 10th. We will continue to collect surveys at community events through August 19th, and then will compile results to be examined in detail in hopes that a data linkage can be supported between the improvement in quality of life and infrastructural improvements such as sidewalks, streetlights, exercise equipment, demolishing abandoned homes, etc. I have seen first hand that when you ask residents what they want to do to improve their community, it may be issues of safety that is the most immediate need. We spend a lot of time promoting health and suggest exercising, but if people don?t feel safe because of a crack house that they have to walk by in the dark because there are no streetlights on a dirt road because there are no sidewalks, then our encouragement is a moot point. PACE EH is a great tool to identify what and why each unique community perceives to be. Environmental Health issues and then through developing action plans, can help solve such hindrances. Other noteworthy events in July included the group called World Changers ?What is harder than rock, or softer than water? Yet soft water hollow out hard rock. Persevere.?- Ovid Past Indian River County UpdatesMedia CoverageThe following files are provided in the Adobe Acrobat pdf format. Files over 100 kb in size that may take longer to download and view, have their file size listed. August 27, 2006 - Volunteers build home in a day for Wabasso's 'Big Mama' May 6, 2006 - County: West Wabasso Will Say Goodbye to 'Brown Water' April 13, 2006 - West Wabasso's long road to county water about to end February 18, 2006 - West Wabasso finds success in long quest for county water January 23, 2006 - Gospel Fest to raise money for hurricane repairs in Wabasso December, 2005 - In My Opinion: West Wabasso Assessment Project Update October 10, 2005 - West Wabasso residents rejoice over water project October 7, 2005 - West Wabasso to get county water September 20, 2005 - Indian River County replaces septic tanks for 10 families in west Wabasso July 8, 2005 - Indian River health officials receive national award June, 2005 - Spring 2005 PACE Progress Report for the Wabasso Environmental Assessment (380 kb) June 17, 2005 - World Changers group fixes homes in West Wabasso June 15, 2005 - Impoverished area to get waterlines June 12, 2005 - World Changers redo Wabasso May 1, 2005 - Water System on its way to Wabasso December 25, 2004 - Woman's work aids west Wabasso residents October 18, 2004 - Storms stall Wabasso help September, 2004 - PACE Progress Report for the Wabasso Environmental Assessment (620 kb) September 28, 2004 - Storms run Wabasso family out of own, borrowed homes August 28, 2004 - Families get new homes August 11, 2004 - Draft Brochure, Bringing Basic Needs to a Forgotten Community (1.4 meg file) July 30, 2004 - Kindness rules in Wabasso (109 kb) July 28, 2004 - Teens team up to build man's house June 2, 2004 - Indian River seeks aid for water May 26, 2004 - Groups enlist residents to help revive Wabasso May 11, 2004 - Wabasso may have to wait a year for street lights to come on May 9, 2004 - Town hall meeting to address Wabasso's needs
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
