Northern EHOsure: Environmental Health in the Last Frontier - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Title: Northern EHOsure: Environmental Health in the Last Frontier
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Northern EHO-sure Environmental Health in the
Last Frontier
LTJG Chris Dankmeyer
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Objectives
- Isolated Hardship, Hazardous Duty, Hard-to-fill
- Current field EHO environmental health activities
- Emerging issues in Alaska environmental health
- Village trip to Port Heiden
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(No Transcript)
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Isolated Hardship Service Award (ISOHAR)
- Serve 180 consecutive days in a site designated
- as ISOHAR
- Physical isolation (population density)
- Area designation (distance to urban site)
- Housing availability
- Medical availability (secondary level care
hospital) - Health professional shortage
- Standards of living conditions
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Hazardous Duty Service Award (HAD)
- Officers must have 6 months exposure to one of
the - following risk factors.
- Contact with inmates/detainees at certain
- Bureau of Prisons' facilities, Forensic Hospital
at St. Elizabeths - and Immigration and Naturalization sites
- 8 round trips or 16 duty site destinations on
frequent - unscheduled aircraft flights within a 6-month
period (aircraft - must seat 10 or fewer passengers)
- Industrial hygiene surveys of mine sites
- Other hazardous conditions.
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Hard-To-Fill
- Proposed by Agency and approved by the Director
the - Office of the Commissioned Corps Force
Management, - within the Office of Public Health and Science.
- historically hard-to-fill status/sites,
- length of time in vacancy
- vacancy rate over time
- measures taken to fill the position
- use of contract providers,
- national hard-to-fill designation for the
profession - pay discrepancy with the private sector
- criticality of the position to the Agency
- Other
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Riding in style
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BBAHC Injury Statistics
Prepared by Ward Jones, IP Specialist
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BBAHC Injury Statistics
Prepared by Ward Jones, IP Specialist
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What Field EHOs are doing in Alaska
- Drinking water sanitation
- Sanitary surveys of PWSs
- 4 remote drinking water labs
- Disinfection guidance
- Sampling procedures
- Host Training Courses
- Operators Water, Wastewater, Rural Alaska
Landfill Operator - Utility 6 Rural Utility Business Advisory
Courses - Food Handlers Training
- Wastewater sanitation
- Focus on Operation Maintenance, collection
rates safety - Head Start Inspections
- Use Tribal Model Head Start Health and Safety
Code - Sanitation Deficiency System
- Assign OM points for sanitation projects
- Indoor air quality assessments
- Remote Health Clinic Inspections
- Focus on Life Safety Code
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What Field EHOs are doing in Alaska
- Class III landfill sanitation
- Landfill surveys
- Solid waste management plans
- Food Sanitation
- Facility inspections
- Suspected foodborne outbreak investigations
- Sample collection and shipment
- Rabies Prevention
- Vaccinate dog/cats against rabies
- Conduct animal bite (Rabies) Investigations
- Specimen submissions
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Botulism Non-fatal Cases and Deaths by Year
Alaska, 19502004
Joe McLaughlin, MD, MPH State Epidemiologist and
Chief, Alaska Section of Epidemiology
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Animal Rabies in Alaska,1999 2007
Louisa Castrodale, MD, MPH State Epidemiologist,
Alaska Section of Epidemiology
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Avian Influenza
- HPAI H5N1 virus has not been detected
- Surveillance
- Live Capture
- Subsistence Harvest
- Found Dead
- Environmental Samples
- 2006
- 16,807 samples
- gt 300 samples tested positive for LPAI
- 2007
- 8,671 samples
- 61-68 samples tested positive for LPAI
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Climate Change Shifting the EHO paradigm
- Flooding
- Natural disaster awareness
- Disease outbreaks
- Subsistence resources
- Insect stings
- ??????????
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The Immediate Crisis Energy
- Cause
- Electricity .3433 / KWH
- Gas 5.97 / gal
- Diesel 6.42 / gal
- Home Heating Fuel 5.74 / gal
- Effect
- Increased cost of living
- Scheduled power outages
- Health clinic closures
- Out migration towards road system cities
- Loss of pressure in water distribution systems
- Prices are typically higher in the villages
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Village Trip Port Heiden
- Population of 79
- Traditional Alutiiq community with a commercial
fishing and subsistence lifestyle - 424 miles southwest of Anchorage at the mouth of
the Meshik River, North side of the Alaska
Peninsula - Maritime climate
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A Walk Around the Village
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Infrastructure
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Beach Erosion of a FUD
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Landfill Operations
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In Review
- HHH assignments offer a unique EHO experience.
- The climate and terrain offer many logistical
challenges. - Rural Alaska continues to battle for a basic
level of sanitation. - Rabies, Injury prevention, AI monitoring and
Botulism are all ongoing issues. - Energy has emerged as public health issue.
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THE END
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