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  4. Environmental Health Training in Emergency Response (EHTER) - Introductory Level

Environmental Health Training in Emergency Response (EHTER) - Introductory Level

    Announcement!
    Environmental Health Training in Emergency Response
    Train-the-Trainer Workshop - NEHA, June 2008

    NEHA Conference Brochure 2008 - see page 13 for free workshops including the EHTER Train-the-Trainer Workshop

    Background
    Several assessments have demonstrated the need for emergency preparedness and response education and training for environmental health practitioners. However, there is currently no national, comprehensive, standardized education and training program.

    To address this need, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Environmental Health Services Branch (EHSB) collaborated with the Florida Department of Health; Louisville Metro Health Department; and other federal, state, and local health and environmental health partners to develop a comprehensive pilot training. The nine modules of the Environmental Health Training in Emergency Response (EHTER) focus on key environmental health issues and challenges for emergency response, such as food safety, water quality, wastewater disposal, shelter assessment/sanitation, vector control/pest management, and special health concerns associated with chemical/biologic/radiation incidents.

    Environmental health practitioners have important roles and perform many critical functions during emergency response, such as conducting shelter assessments, testing drinking water supplies, conducting food safety inspections, and controlling disease-causing vectors. EHTER will better prepare federal, state, local, and tribal environmental health practitioners (e.g., sanitarians, environmental health specialists) by providing the basic knowledge and skills to address the environmental health concerns that result from emergencies and disasters.

    Eight EHTER pilot trainings have been conducted to date:

    • June 2006 – San Antonio
    • October 2006 – Atlanta
    • November 2006 – Volusia County, Florida
    • February 2007 – Louisville
    • March 2007 – Louisville
    • April 2007 – Wichita
    • June 2007 – Louisville and Atlantic City

    More than 450 environmental health practitioners from 35 states and territories completed the EHTER pilot training. Post-training test scores have consistently shown marked improvement of preparedness knowledge over pre-training test scores. Participant feedback has been very positive and has led to continuous improvements in training with each successive pilot. Participants have demonstrated real-world application of the concepts and information learned, improving response capacity during actual emergencies and disasters such as power outages, train derailment with release of hazardous materials release, tornadoes, and wildfires.

    In 2007, the Florida Division of Environmental Health adopted the EHTER pilot curricula and implemented its own intrastate training program for environmental health practitioners.

    A Train-the-Trainer course will be held in February 2008 in Sacramento, California, for Region 9

    Next Steps
    EHSB submitted a project proposal to the CDC Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response for funding in fiscal year (FY) 2008. The project will focus on four main goals.

    1. Create a train-the-trainer EHTER toolbox for federal, state, local, and tribal environmental health programs.

      2. The toolbox will provide training organizers with the materials and guidance to effectively plan and execute an EHTER workshop. It will allow flexibility based on the environmental health emergency preparedness and response education and training needs of a particular region. The toolbox will structure trainings that can be delivered in nine modules over a period of time or all at once during a multiday workshop.

      The toolbox will contain
      • Instructor manual
      • Participant manual
      • Group exercises manual
      • Presentations with speaker notes for all modules
      • Training organizer checklist with suggested timelines
      • Electronic/printed materials
      • Suggested speaker criteria
      • Video modules of all sessions divided into subject chapters
      • Video module about planning effective workshops


    2. Conduct EHTER Train-the-Trainer workshops in FYs 2008 and 2009 for

      • All 10 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regions All
      • Hawaii and the Pacific Islands
      • U.S. Public Health Service response teams
      • CDC environmental health staff
      • National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) annual conference workshop

      Attendees will participate in a 2-day Train-the-Trainer session. The first day will cover workshop planning, organization, execution, and an introduction to the training toolbox. On the second day, a sample of the modules will show participants firsthand how the training can be delivered. Recruitment strategies will target federal, state, local, and tribal environmental health practitioners engaged in emergency preparedness and response.

    3. Develop and maintain an EHTER Web site for environmental health professionals to share information.


      4. Federal, state, local, and tribal environmental health professionals can share information such as best practices, and lessons learned, to continually improvement EHTER curricula and training. Improved versions and associated modules can be downloaded.

    4. Establish an EHTER advisory group for environmental health emergency preparedness and response education and training.

      5. An advisory group will be established to provide feedback on the EHTER project and explore additional environmental health emergency preparedness and response education and training needs. It will be composed of federal, state, local, and tribal environmental health professionals, and representatives from the National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Public Health Preparedness, National Environmental Health Association, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, National Association of County and City Health Officials, and other partners. This process will begin in FY 2008 and continue through FY 2009. The feasibility of continuing the advisory group will be evaluated after 1 year.

      EHSB will work for the remainder of 2007 to complete development of the toolbox. Other project goals will be addressed as funding permits.

    Additional Information
    For more information on EHTER, contact CAPT Mark Miller (770-488-7652 or mdmiller@cdc.gov) or Martin A. Kalis (770-488-4568 or mkalis@cdc.gov).

    For more information and resources related to environmental health emergency response, visit the CDC Emergency and Terrorism Preparedness for Environmental Health Practitioners Web site at www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/ETP.