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For more information on this project, contact Tom Moore, Environmental Health Director, or Samuel Brobbey Jr., PACE-EH Coordinator, at the Marion County Health Department.

MARION COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT
October 2004 PACE-EH Progress Report

From:         Samuél Brobbey, Jr
                    Senior Health Educator

Subject:     Update - West Ocala Neighborhood PACE EH Project.
                    Marion County Health Department, Environmental Health Division
 

The past few months have been quite challenging and exciting as the West Ocala Neighborhood PACE EH Project has developed into a fully operational Initiative, gathering much needed support from the grassroots community and several new public agencies and private organizations.

The much anticipated CEHAT meeting scheduled for August 16th to initiate concrete action steps for accomplishing the PACE EH goals took place with fewer members of the grassroots community and a low organizational representation than expected. After extensive discussions, it was decided that the process will be much more effective and beneficial if a significant number of community members and a wide range of private organizations and public agencies could be attracted to get involvement. A list of possible stakeholders and partners was generated. Plans were outlined and individual assignments given to various members who committed to actively recruiting more people. The team also made it clear that much time will not be spent waiting for other stakeholders to join the process before moving along.

Another CEHAT meeting was held August 30th. At this meeting, the team discussed and adopted guidelines that would govern the process. The team also elaborated on membership categories for the CEHAT recruitment. The next meeting was scheduled for September 6th which was postponed because of the Hurricanes. Subsequent meetings for the whole month of September were also interrupted on account of the hurricanes. During this period, several individual meetings with community members took place with the aim of renewing efforts and regrouping to continue the process.

Our next meeting took place October 11. It was well attended and involved a spirited discussion among all members, most being new ones. The team gained a representation from the City’s Code Enforcement Office. An overview of the PACE EH process was once again explained in order to keep every team member on the same wavelength. The team arrived at a consensus that a series of workshops needed to be organized to generate a list of environmental health issues.

The first workshop was scheduled for October 18 which delightfully exceeded our expectations. Every team member showed up ready to work. The City’s Fire Captain attended this workshop adding to our growing number of public agencies. A broad list of community strengths and environmental health concerns were compiled. The first stage of this workshop was devoted to open discussion, where people offered ideas, opinions and/or information. This was followed by organizing the information for better understanding and/or evaluation. Because this process was not completed, the team decided to finish up at the next workshop, which was scheduled for November 1.

Things got real interesting when our PSA’s were picked up by several News Media outlets. Three Radio Stations that are widely patronized by the local area and across North Central Florida - SKY Radio, KTK Country and the local affiliate of NPR out of University of Florida in Gainesville - broadcasted interviews about the PACE EH process several times prior to the next workshop.

The turnout for the November 1st workshop was very successful. A total of 23 participants consisting of grassroots community members, representatives from the City’s Planning Department, Community Programs, Central Florida Community College, Keep Marion Beautiful, Inc, Front Porch of Ocala, local businesses, the Marion County School Board, and the President of the City Council attended. Also, Aimee Pragle from Nassau CHD and her husband attended to observe but participated actively.

We continued discussing and listing various Environmental Health hazards affecting the West Ocala neighborhood. Together, we narrowed the long list to seven issues which will be clarified (environmentally) and prioritized for action at the next workshop on Monday, November 8th at the same location.

Following the November 1st workshop, a live interview was done with a local radio station – WOCA. We used this opportunity to educate the community about the PACE EH process in the Western section of Ocala.

Outstanding Issues/concerns
The lukewarm attitude of some public agencies and community-based organizations has been of some concern to us. Whiles there seem to be a gradual turn around we are sensitive to how delicate this partnership is. We also anticipate full cooperation from all stakeholders once the benefits of the process is realized by all involved.

Another pressing matter is clearly delineating environmental health issues from health outcomes that may be somewhat influenced by the community’s social environment. It was evident that, some items on the list generated were not environmental health specific. These are legitimate and important concerns the community members expressed. In these early stages, our focus has been to get people involved and participate in the process. We intend to refer to, and/or invite other agencies to look at some of the non environmental issues. Now that we are confident that we have their attention, we will tactfully work down the list in order to address the real environmental concerns, while at the same time, showing that we care and are empathetic to their other issues, even though they may not be environmentally oriented.
 

• November 8 - CEHAT Workshop 3

• November 10 - West side Community Pastors’ Luncheon

Community Scenes

Past Marion County Updates

July, 2004

June, 2004

Media Coverage (.pdf files)

April 10, 2005 - Unkempt properties, pollution cited in west Ocala survey

August 1, 2004 - West Ocala's health to get a close look