Developing new environmental health materials in partnerships

Outreach invites collaborations and partnerships for the purpose of informing the public about environmental health issues and developing materials to disseminate, both face to face and online. Examples include:

• The Biology Project teaches people about the affect of chemicals on human health and the fundamental principles of toxicology. – Chemicals and Human Health http://coep.pharmacy.arizona.edu/curriculum/chh/index.html
• The Pima County Department of Environmental Quality serves to develop and provide information about the effects of air pollution on lung function – Air Info Now http://coep.pharmacy.arizona.edu/air/index.html
• BASIS Secondary School develops on-campus internships for 12th grade students – Arizona Environmental Health Internships http://coep.pharmacy.arizona.edu/keys/index.html
• Outreach cores at other universities develop and disseminate environmental health information concerning asthma & allergies, lead poisoning, and cancer control – the HOPE Partnership http://coep.pharmacy.arizona.edu/hope.html
• Local teachers create an online interdisciplinary high school curriculum around nine environmental health issues and the Wildcat Secondary School to teach the curriculum – PULSE: Promoting Understanding and Learning for Society and Environmental Health http://pulse.pharmacy.arizona.edu/

To request assistance for your project or program please contact Marti Lindsey, 520-626-3692 or lindsey@pharmacy.arizonae.edu

The Joint Air Toxics Assessment Project (JATAP)

• An ongoing collaboration of the COEC in the Phoenix area monitoring air quality
• The first phase activities was a review of the existing air toxics knowledge in the Phoenix area and the creation of a comprehensive blueprint for the assessment of risk from air toxics in the Phoenix metropolitan area through monitoring, emission inventories, modeling and risk assessment.
• The partners include the Intertribal Council of Arizona, the Gila River Indian Community (GRIC), the Salt River-Pima Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC), and the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, three American Indian tribes in the Phoenix area.
• The blueprint further calls for public outreach in the second phase of the project. When the air sampling is complete the COEC will help the group form their public education materials and plans.
• Air Toxics materials will be developed in the near future

HOPE Partnership materials

• developed in collaboration with outreach staff from the University of Southern California and Rutgers University (Asthma and Allergies), Oregon State University (Lead Poisoning) and the University of Texas (Cancer Control).
• develops and disseminates materials for public health observance events for lead poisoning awareness, asthma and allergies, and cancer research.

Arsenic in the Drinking Water Brochure

The PULSE curriculum

• developed and piloted in collaboration with individual teachers from many schools in the Tucson area.
• Learning units were taught to teachers during the annual Environmental Health Teacher Institute during both 2005 and 2006
• Teachers have taught full 8 week units of the PULSE curriculum with over 300 students completing the major project associated with the units, Dawn of New Revolutions: Revolutionizing Biology to meet Needs and Disease & Epidemics: Architects of History.
• The “Arsenic in the Drinking Water” brochure used for the 2005 public outreach project in Ajo, Arizona was developed in collaboration with Tucson Water, an ongoing partner of the COEC. It was written at a reading level appropriate to the general public and then used as support materials for the PULSE Culture & Cycles: Arsenic and Human Health unit.
• Web pages were created highlighting this activity http://coep.pharmacy.arizona.edu/arsenic/index.html.