Children's
Health: Schools, Emergency Planning, Resources
Disaster
Preparedness for Schools
Resource List
 The
National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (NCEF) tracks key
K–12 school facilities issues. One of NCEF’s resource lists relates
to building or retrofitting schools to withstand natural disasters and
terrorism, developing emergency preparedness plans, and using school
buildings to shelter community members during emergencies. These resource
lists are annotated bibliographies that include links to full-text publications
and related Web sites, and descriptions of books, studies, reports,
and journal articles.
The disaster preparedness
for schools resource list is available from www.edfacilities.org/rl/disaster.cfm.
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Children,
Terrorism, and Disasters
AAP Web Site
The American Academy of
Pediatrics (AAP) has an area on its Web site (www.aap.org/terrorism)
dedicated to children, terrorism, and disasters. The Web site helps
pediatricians, parents, community leaders, and others prepare for and
meet children’s needs during a disaster. Examples of information available
include the following:
- Family Readiness Kit:
Preparing to Handle Disasters;
- The Youngest Victims:
Disaster Preparedness To Meet Children’s Needs; and
- AAP resources, federal
resources, and medical journal and report information on topics such
as biological, chemical, and nuclear agents.
“The goal of this portion
of the site is to ensure that every physician has access to comprehensive
information, as well as breaking news, about emerging health care threats,”
said Joseph Hagan, MD, FAAP, and AAP Task Force on Terrorism chair.
The Web site addresses clinical questions and concerns of pediatricians
and other health care providers on issues such as bioterrorism and chemical
terrorism. It also provides guidance to families on how to communicate
with children in the wake of a disaster.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) is offering free materials and resources to organizations
that focus on reducing children’s exposure to secondhand smoke. The
materials and resources include public service announcements, educational
magnets and posters, Smoke-Free Home Kit, and community action kits.
EPA developed the materials to increase awareness of the Smoke-Free
Home Initiative, which works toward making households healthier for
children by reducing children’s exposure to secondhand smoke in the
home.
For more information on
the Smoke-Free Home Initiative or to order the free materials, contact
Lou Witt at 202-564-9051 or at witt.lou@epa.gov.
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Visit CDC's health topics
pages for more information specific to children and adolescents.
The health topic page relating
to infants and children is at www.cdc.gov/health/nfantsmenu.htm;
the page relating to adolescents and teens is at www.cdc.gov/health/adolescent.htm.
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Children's
Health Web Site
Environmental Health
Perspectives, the journal of the National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences, now has a Web site devoted to the field of children’s
health. The site provides more centralized access to all of EHP’s
children’s health resources—including news articles and scientific research
dating back to the 1970s—as well as links to outside organizations and
information focused on children’s health.
Access the site at ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/children/.
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The U.S. Environmental
Protec-tion Agency (EPA) has released the second report of America’s
Children and the Environment: Measures of Contaminants, Body Burdens,
and Illnesses. The report contains data on trends in environmental
contaminants, concentration of contaminants in women and children, and
childhood illnesses that may be related to environmental exposures.
For a copy of
the report, go to www.epa.gov/envirohealth/children.
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The objective of the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention's new National Advisory Committee
on Children and Terrorism (NACCT) is to assess and provide recommendations
for Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson on
- the preparedness of
the health care system to respond to bioterrorism as it relates to
children.
- needed changes to the
health care and emergency medical service systems and emergency medical
services protocols to meet the special needs of children.
- changes, if necessary,
to the National Strategic Stockpile under section 121 of the Public
Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of
2002 to meet the emergency health security of children.
By June 6, 2003, this committee
is charged with preparing a report to Secretary Thompson containing
its recommendations and other information he requests.
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School
Health Index
 The
School Health Index for Physical Activity, Healthy Eating, and a Tobacco-Free
Lifestyle is a self-assessment and planning tool that will enable
schools to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their health promotion
policies and programs; develop an action plan for improving student
health; and involve teachers, parents, students, and the community in
improving school policies and programs.
For a copy of the School
Health Index, choose one of the following options:
- request by phone: 1-888-231-6405,
or
- request by fax: 1-888-282-7681.
When ordering, please specify
either the elementary school version or the middle school/high school
version.
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This page last updated on October 24, 2003
Contact Name: Wilma López/ mailto:WLopez@cdc.gov
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