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[Thorpe] Welcome to Beyond the Data I'm Dr. Phoebe Thorpe
and here with me today is Dr. Heather Strosnider
from CDC's Environmental Public Health Tracking program.
Heather, thank you for joining us.
[Strosnider] Thank you for having me.
[Thorpe] Today's session was really interesting
about environmental health and environmental health seems
like it's the intersection of our environment and our health.
Tell me how your program is helping us understand how our
environment impacts our health.
[Strosnider] Sure, absolutely.
So yeah, our environment is everything that surrounds us.
In tracking program we focus on chemical,
physical, biological hazards.
That can be in our air, water, our communities, our homes.
In our presentation today I gave an example of air pollution
and respiratory ED visits.
Another example I briefly mentioned is Radon.
Radon is a naturally occurring element
that is found in rocks and soil.
It can seep into our homes from the ground.
And so it is really important to test your homes for radon levels
and to mitigate that if there seems to be a problem.
But there's a lack of data on exactly
where we should be testing homes for Radon.
[Thorpe] Oh ok, so that makes sense to me because as you were
saying about your home being, having Radon in your home,
I was thinking oh that's an individual problem.
But what you're saying is that the tracking program is helping
to put that together so people know where they might need
to test for the Radon because they might,
their, their area might have increased risks.
[Strosnider] Correct, so we're really trying to motivate people
to have this test done.
And we know some information from a geological perspective
about where we think Radon is, but it really can vary
from house to house or neighborhood to neighborhood.
And so, by centralizing and standardizing data for tests
that are occurring, we can help understand where we want
to have future tests or where areas need further testing.
[Thorpe] OK, that makes sense too because you,
what I hear you saying is
that this testing is being standardized too
and that's also very important.
The other thing that we heard today was about climate change,
or just a little bit about climate change.
But climate change and environmental health seem
like they overlap a lot.
How are they the same and how are they different?
[Strosnider] Yeah, well
in my perspective climate change is an environmental
health issue.
You know climate change may lead to an increase
in extreme weather events, like storms and hurricanes,
flooding, even heat waves.
And those are all physical hazards external to us
and they can cause health effects;
injury, illness, even death.
And so working with our climate change partners,
we help to use data to understand
where events might occur in the future
and help communities adapt to those future risks.
It's very similar to public health preparedness
and we collaborate with those programs as well.
Whereas in public health preparedness we're really
focusing on the events that are occurring now, the communities
that are experiencing heat waves, for example, now.
But when it comes to climate change we're looking
to the future and we're saying "where might heat waves occur
in the future?" and communities
that aren't already experiencing heat waves
and therefore they aren't already prepared to deal
with those heat waves.
[Thorpe] Heat waves, the changes the changes in their, their,
environment from the climate change changes.
[Strosnider] Right.
[Thorpe] That make sense?
Right? [Strosnider] Right.
[Thorpe] The other thing that was very interesting was
about the state of Massachusetts that's moving towards "Health
in All Policies".
And I was really intrigued
about how they're using the tracking data
to make that possible.
How you can look at how a change
in something would affect the health.
Can you tell me a little bit more
about why decision-makers would be looking to the tracking data
to help make decisions?
[Strosnider] Sure.
So the unique thing about our program and the real value
of our data is that it's fully vetted.
It's developed the standard, based on standards,
in collaboration with environmental
and health partners at the National, State and local level.
We work with those partners
to understand what the important environmental health
questions are.
We evaluate available data.
We set those standards.
We process the data and we disseminate it in multiple ways
through our tracking network.
So not only do you have an increased access to data,
but you have data that's been standardized across the US.
That's been interpreted.
And you have the expertise within these tracking programs
to make sense of the data and to help
to address decision-makers' concerns and problems.
So, you know, while it's on one-hand it's the data,
it's also the expertise.
[Thorpe] And so you had also, so there's data and expertise.
You had also mentioned that there were tools.
And that also individuals can access the data.
How, if somebody at an individual level was interested
in accessing the data, how, how would they go about doing that?
And what are some of the things
that might be able to explore on that?
[Strosnider] Sure, so at the national level we have our
national tracking network and you can visit
that on the link provided here.
And from that link you can also reach all
of our grantee portals, so at the state and local level.
So at the national level, in the tracking network,
you can access data on things like air pollution, asthma,
drinking water, birth defects, cancer,
developmental disabilities, childhood lead poisoning.
And then you can go to our state and local portals
where you'll find similar data, also standardized
in the same way, but additional data that have been developed
at the state and local level
to address State and local level concerns.
[Thorpe] So you have national data.
And state and local data and, or state and local data,
I should put it that way.
"Data" actually sounds quite cool
and interesting even though it's data.
So but, there must be more.
What are you looking towards in the future and in
which where do you see that the program going towards.
[Strosnider] Sure.
Well, I really do think we are just scratching the surface
of what the tracking program and the network can be.
And how it can help inform decisions related
to environmental health.
We're really eager to continue to grow our capacity
at the national, state, and local level.
And that's capacity both in technical
and data management, data collection.
But also in environmental health science and epidemiology.
How we use that data to inform those decisions.
And we're also really really interested in continuing
to grow our partnerships and increase awareness
about the tracking program and the network.
We want to collaborate with decision-makers
to help them connect the data that they need
to address the issue that they're concerned about.
And ultimately help make informed decisions
about programs or interventions or policies that can prevent
or reduce the impact
of environmental hazards on our health.
[Thorpe] On our health.
So it will really will be health in all policies
and actions, it's great.
Thank you so much for joining us today.
[Strosnider] Yea, Thank you for having me.
[Thorpe] And thank you for joining us.
We'll see you next time on Beyond the Data.
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