environmental health
Leaders in Addressing Environmental Health Issues:
MN and WA Host System Meetings
by Paul Moyer, MS, section manager, Environmental Laboratory, Minnesota Public Health Laboratory; Blaine Rhodes, MS, director, Office of Environmental
Laboratory Sciences, Washington Public Health Laboratory; Sarah Wright, MS, manager, Environmental Laboratories
prove critical going forward, since CECs—
which tend to mirror our lifestyles —can
be expected to evolve as lifestyles and
related risks change.
For others considering hosting similar
meetings, our lessons learned include the
importance of proper advance planning,
curation of good contact lists for invitees,
and knowledge of what attendees are
interested in learning and discussing.
Contracting with an independent
facilitator and gathering feedback in small
group sessions proved effective.
Katie Nyquist of MDH’s Environmental Surveillance and Assessment Section, a key lab partner, presents on Communicating the
Science of Emerging Contaminants. Photo: MDH
Since 2014, APHL has partnered with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National
Center for Environmental Health (CDC/NCEH) Environmental Hazards and Health Effects Division
to provide funding for environmental health laboratories to host a meeting of their environmental
health system partners. By providing an opportunity for collaboration, these meetings support
laboratory leadership in addressing systems issues. In 2017, APHL offered environmental health
Dr. Joanne Bartkus, MDH Lab Director, discusses results from
science communication small breakout group sessions.
Photo: MDH
laboratories a chance to apply for up to $15,000 of funding for meeting support. Minnesota and
Washington were awarded funding and convened stakeholder meetings in 2018. Washington: West Coast Regional
Radiological Response Meeting
Minnesota: Science and Policy of
Emerging Contaminants Releases of radioactive materials do
not recognize borders. They move
among states as the winds take them.
With this sobering reality in view, 19
representatives from Washington, Oregon
and California met at the Washington
State Public Health Laboratories (WA PHL)
in May to address west coast regional
responses to a multi-state radiological
release event. Attendees comprised a
unique group of health physicists and
radiochemists, plus representatives
from the US Environmental Protection
Agency (US EPA) and US Department
of Energy who shared advanced
resources available from the federal
government during a large-scale event.
Prioritizing selection and investigation of
contaminants of emerging concern (CEC)
is challenging. But equally challenging
is developing a strategy to communicate
information about CECs to stakeholders
and the public. On May 22, 86 attendees
gathered at a venue selected by the
Minnesota Department of Health (MDH)
Public Health Laboratory to promote the
value of this work and create meaningful
policies and practices to reduce CECs in
the environment.
Collaboration began with the planning
and logistics team. Personnel from
the MDH Environmental Laboratory,
4
LAB MATTERS Summer 2018
MDH Environmental Surveillance
and Assessment program and MDH
Chronic Disease and Environmental
Epidemiology program developed
the full-day agenda, which included
whole- and small-group discussions.
Invitees included representatives from
state, county or local environmental
programs, industry and other private
sector entities, environmental
advocacy groups and academia.
We discovered that Minnesota has a
diverse community of CEC-interested
stakeholders who are willing to
collaborate and engage with each other.
The stakeholders are motivated to learn
and utilize proven techniques for outreach
to the public. These relationships will
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