Appendix I
National Children’s Study Assembly Meeting
Breakout Session Summary: Involving State and Local Public Health Officials and Other Stakeholders
December 17, 2003
Sheraton Atlanta Hotel
Atlanta, GA
Facilitators:
Woodie Kessel, M.D., M.P.H., Office of Public Health and Science, DHHS
Carole A. Kimmel, Ph.D., Office of Research and Development, EPA
Dr. Kessel opened the meeting and asked participants to introduce themselves and the institution or company they were representing. Several questions were discussed during the breakout session:
- What are the child health questions facing state and local government officials?
- State and local governments need both population-based and individual-specific information for the usual array of issues, for example, adolescent overweight and obesity.
- Most issues are acute in nature but long-term outcomes are essential for making policy-related programmatic investments.
- How can the Study best partner with state and local government officials?
- State health departments are already in place with infrastructures that work and local contacts.
- A partnership between state and local health departments, departments of the environment (extension services), and local medical centers might be a good way to sample various types of communities and subpopulations, especially hard-to-reach communities (for example, minority and ethnic groups and WIC-supported, rural).
- What is the advantage of working with state and local health departments?
- A way into local communities.
- Better understanding of local issues, disease outbreaks, local disasters, and others.
- What are some sustainability issues?
- Turnover rate in personnel at state health departments.
- Turnover in department directors.
- Loss of interest.
- WIC eligibility issues.
In Attendance:
Henry A. Anderson, M.D., Wisconsin Division of Public Health
Debbie Cherry, M.D., University of Texas Health Center, Tyler
Lawrence D’Angelo, M.D., M.P.H., Children’s National Medical Center, Washington, DC
Roy Fortmann, Ph.D., National Exposure Research Laboratory, EPA