Winner of the
2005 Ocala/Marion County Chamber of Commerce
Walter Driggers Environmentalist of the Year Award

MARION COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT
April, 2006 PACE-EH Progress Report

Latest News!

May 20, 2006 - Unlikely Rebels Defeat Gritty Plant

Date: April 5, 2006

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

From: Herman Hale, RN
PACE-EH Coordinator

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

Project Summary

The West Ocala Neighborhood PACE-EH project is continuing its course, after recent personnel changes. The new Marion County Health Departments PACE-EH coordinator, Herman Hale RN, has been meeting with the recently appointed regional PACE-EH consultant, Samuel Brobbey, Jr.

Since the last PACE-EH meeting, much has changed within the West Ocala community. Increased pressure placed on Royal Oak - the alleged main cause of the air pollution problem, coupled with negotiations with and support of several City and State officials, and other government agencies resulted in the closure of the plant. This outcome clearly demonstrated the renewed interest in, and concerns regarding the environmental health status of the community. The department feels the PACE EH Process may have played a role in helping the West Ocala Neighborhood Group bring this long time air pollution issue to the forefront. The community at this point feels empowered to continue the process in order to restore the community to an environmentally safe area. Several preliminary tests have been initiated to clearly determine and establish the connected relationship of the charcoal plant and the health status of the community.

Read the final report of the West Ocala Neighborhood Environmental Health Assessment Survey

The Marion County Health Department has demonstrated continued leadership by paying for EMSL Analytical to conduct some ambient air monitoring around the Royal Oak Charcoal Plant. Marion County Environmental Health staff assisted in the air sampling process through the placement of the EMSL air equipment at strategic locations, and then collected the data after a 24 hour run. The initial test results will be sent to Tallahassee for additional evaluation. The results, when available, will be discussed at the next PACE-EH community meeting. It should be noted that, a significant accomplishment thus far is not only the closure of the Royal Oak charcoal plant, but the renewal of social capitol and community empowerment to address environmental concerns, which is an essential pillar of the PACE EH process. As of this reporting period Royal Oak has ceased its operation in Ocala and the plant has begun the process of dismantling.

Mr. Hale has been in contact with core CEHAT members and is keeping them informed of any new developments related to the test results. At the suggestion of Mr. Brobbey, Mr. Hale has also begun the process of making additional contacts within the West Ocala community. By scheduling their attendance at various community functions, this newly created PACE-EH duo hopes to carry forward the momentum generated within this community. They also hope to address some outstanding concerns related to the involvement of Wildlaw, as it relates to the PACE-EH process and educate the community that, even though they have moved forward and have seen first hand how successful the process can be, there were more goals established within the community. To attain those goals, the participants must remain motivated and understand the PACE-EH process is a long term commitment built around short term successes.

PACE EH 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. New working relationships with other agencies, businesses and organizations have been formed. Current collaboration possibilities have been broadened. Expressed community concerns have made this project a timely venture. Potential strengths and weaknesses of community outlined. First community meeting conducted.	Completed Completed
Task 2: Define and Characterize the Community	Identify political, social, economic and cultural systems of community Research additional stakeholders that need to be engaged in this project.	Completed Ongoing
Task 3: Assemble Community Health Environmental Team	Community Environmental Health Assessment Team Meeting - Ongoing o Clarify expectations of team. o Vision Formation o Develop governing and decision-making structure, and ground rules o Describe scope of environmental health issues to address o Encourage and recruit community and other organization involvement.	Completed Completed Completed Completed Ongoing
Task 4: Define the Goals, Objectives, and Scope of the Assessment	Geographic/Topical scope Expected outcomes and decisions of process	Completed
Task 5: Generate Environmental Health Issue List	Data collection of community concerns Create manageable list Evaluate and select data-gathering methods	Completed
Task 6: Systems Framework Analysis	Understanding the framework Mapping process - Linking health of the community and health of the environment	Completed
Task 7: Develop Locally Appropriate Indicators	Develop list of potential indicators Identify key indicators based on selected criteria	Pending	10/1/06
Task 8: Select Standards	Identify externally driven standards Agree upon locally appropriate standards	Pending	11/15/06
Task 9: Create Issue Profiles	Adopt a standardized format for organizing information Gather information Collect data for locally developed indicators Develop a summary statement	Pending	12/15/06
Task 10: Rank Environmental Health Issues	Determine the biggest/most serious problems in community	Pending	1/5/07
Task 11: Set Priorities for Action	Determine local priority-setting criteria Select priorities	Pending	2/15/07
Task 12: Develop an Action Plan	Develop goals and objectives Identify community assets and barriers Develop timeframe Determine level of success	Pending	3/15/07
Task 13: Evaluate progress and Plan for the future	Agree on questions to be answered by the evaluation Evaluate the success of the evaluation process Prepare for community-based environmental health assessment activities	Pending	5/15/07