Making an impact for children's health
Collaborative efforts among state universities and agencies aim at
reducing children's exposure to health hazards in the water they drink, air they breathe and places where they live and learn.
Photo from CALS Communications Services
A cross-disciplinary program is helping make the world a safer, healthier place for children.
Extension faculty in N.C. State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and N.C. A&T State University's College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences joined forces several years ago to provide agents with training in a variety of children's environmental health concerns. Issues include controlling hazards that cause health problems like asthma and lead poisoning, as well as reducing children's exposure to mold, mercury, second-hand smoke, radon, pesticides, cleaning products and the hazards of methamphetamine labs.
Among faculty involved are N.C. State's Dr. Sandy Wiggins, environmental health and housing specialist and Cooperative Extension's leader for the Children's Environmental Health State Program, and Dr. Barbara Garland, Cooperative Extension Rural Health Program coordinator, along with N.C. A&T State's Dr. Robert Williamson, natural resources specialist, and Extension specialists Dr. Jean Baldwin and Dr. Ellen Smoak.
In 2001, the federal Environmental Protection Agency in the southern region approached North Carolina Cooperative Extension about providing education on children's environmental health.
Under Wiggins' leadership, the partnership team pulled together two three-day training sessions - the Children's Environmental Health Partnership Institute in May 2002 and again in August 2005. The institutes were designed to train family and consumer sciences agents in dealing with a variety of environmental health risks. In 2005, the trainers expanded their curriculum to include mercury, sun safety and quality drinking water. About 70 percent of all Extension agents have been reached through these sessions.
In 2002, the program received a Search for Excellence Award from the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service Foundation.
In 2003, the Eloise Cofer Forum, sponsored by Family and Consumer Sciences at N.C. State, focused on children's environmental health, including endocrine disruptors, pesticide exposure and mercury exposure from fish and other environmental sources. EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, participated in the forum along with Extension professionals from eight southern states.
Asthma mitigation has been one area where the program has had great impact. About 390,000 North Carolinians suffer from asthma, 120,000 of them under the age of 12. Asthma is the leading chronic illness in children.
Wiggins serves as the primary investigator for the EPA's Asthma and Tools for Schools grants to Extension.
"Through this training program, Extension agents learned to work with local asthma coalitions and schools to increase awareness of asthma and how to control it," Wiggins said. "They discuss the need to keep homes, classrooms and child care settings clean and help children avoid threats such as second-hand smoke, mold and other environmental hazards."
As a result of the program, two school districts have made significant changes. In Lincoln County, citizens approved a $46 million bond referendum to alleviate a school mold problem. In Beaufort County, where flooding after Hurricane Floyd forced two schools to close, voters approved a bond referendum to rebuild the two schools.
The Lead-Based Paint Education Outreach Program for Children was an education effort to reach Hispanic families and families on the Cherokee Reservation with information about the potential hazards of lead paint in homes built before 1978.
Exposure to environmental hazards, such as lead, is more serious for children, Williamson said.
The need to address the issues of children's environmental health calls for an interdisciplinary approach, he said. "Everything is connected - you can't do anything in isolation."
"That is why it is also important that we continue our collaborations with other state agencies and universities to promote healthy environments for children throughout North Carolina," said Wiggins, whom Williamson calls the catalyst behind the program.
As the next step, Wiggins received grant monies to oversee the development of a new Web site, Children's Environmental Health Partnership: http://www.cehpartnership.org. This site provides links to information, resources and research for the public on children's environmental health issues.
Their work is important, as EPA has recognized. And as they looked ahead to National Children's Health Month in October, both Wiggins and Williamson said, "We are saving lives with this program."
- Natalie Hampton
Extension faculty in N.C. State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and N.C. A&T State University's College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences joined forces several years ago to provide agents with training in a variety of children's environmental health concerns. Issues include controlling hazards that cause health problems like asthma and lead poisoning, as well as reducing children's exposure to mold, mercury, second-hand smoke, radon, pesticides, cleaning products and the hazards of methamphetamine labs.
Among faculty involved are N.C. State's Dr. Sandy Wiggins, environmental health and housing specialist and Cooperative Extension's leader for the Children's Environmental Health State Program, and Dr. Barbara Garland, Cooperative Extension Rural Health Program coordinator, along with N.C. A&T State's Dr. Robert Williamson, natural resources specialist, and Extension specialists Dr. Jean Baldwin and Dr. Ellen Smoak.
In 2001, the federal Environmental Protection Agency in the southern region approached North Carolina Cooperative Extension about providing education on children's environmental health.
Under Wiggins' leadership, the partnership team pulled together two three-day training sessions - the Children's Environmental Health Partnership Institute in May 2002 and again in August 2005. The institutes were designed to train family and consumer sciences agents in dealing with a variety of environmental health risks. In 2005, the trainers expanded their curriculum to include mercury, sun safety and quality drinking water. About 70 percent of all Extension agents have been reached through these sessions.
In 2002, the program received a Search for Excellence Award from the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service Foundation.
In 2003, the Eloise Cofer Forum, sponsored by Family and Consumer Sciences at N.C. State, focused on children's environmental health, including endocrine disruptors, pesticide exposure and mercury exposure from fish and other environmental sources. EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, participated in the forum along with Extension professionals from eight southern states.
Asthma mitigation has been one area where the program has had great impact. About 390,000 North Carolinians suffer from asthma, 120,000 of them under the age of 12. Asthma is the leading chronic illness in children.
Wiggins serves as the primary investigator for the EPA's Asthma and Tools for Schools grants to Extension.
"Through this training program, Extension agents learned to work with local asthma coalitions and schools to increase awareness of asthma and how to control it," Wiggins said. "They discuss the need to keep homes, classrooms and child care settings clean and help children avoid threats such as second-hand smoke, mold and other environmental hazards."
As a result of the program, two school districts have made significant changes. In Lincoln County, citizens approved a $46 million bond referendum to alleviate a school mold problem. In Beaufort County, where flooding after Hurricane Floyd forced two schools to close, voters approved a bond referendum to rebuild the two schools.
The Lead-Based Paint Education Outreach Program for Children was an education effort to reach Hispanic families and families on the Cherokee Reservation with information about the potential hazards of lead paint in homes built before 1978.
Exposure to environmental hazards, such as lead, is more serious for children, Williamson said.
The need to address the issues of children's environmental health calls for an interdisciplinary approach, he said. "Everything is connected - you can't do anything in isolation."
"That is why it is also important that we continue our collaborations with other state agencies and universities to promote healthy environments for children throughout North Carolina," said Wiggins, whom Williamson calls the catalyst behind the program.
As the next step, Wiggins received grant monies to oversee the development of a new Web site, Children's Environmental Health Partnership: http://www.cehpartnership.org. This site provides links to information, resources and research for the public on children's environmental health issues.
Their work is important, as EPA has recognized. And as they looked ahead to National Children's Health Month in October, both Wiggins and Williamson said, "We are saving lives with this program."
- Natalie Hampton