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

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

    NEW!
    CDC’s Environmental Health Training in Emergency Response (EHTER) Introductory Level course is now available through a partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) in Anniston, Alabama.

    This introductory-level training, sponsored by DHS/FEMA and CDC/National Center for Environmental Health, is a 24-hour (3-day) course that provides an overview of environmental health topics, issues, and challenges faced during emergency response. The purpose of the course is to increase the level of emergency preparedness of environmental health practitioners and other emergency response personnel by providing them with the necessary knowledge, skills, and resources to address the environmental health impacts of emergencies and disasters.

    Transportation, lodging, and meals are provided by DHS/FEMA to students from state and local jurisdictions at no cost to their agency. For more details about this course and other EHTER courses being offered in 2009, please visit https://cdp.dhs.gov/schedules/program/s.html.
    (NOTE: Please click on the “Continue with LIMITED functionality” tab to proceed)

    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 in this area.

    To address this need, CDC’s Environmental Health Services Branch (EHSB) collaborated with the Florida Department of Health; Louisville Metro Health Department; and other federal, state, and local public health and environmental health partners to develop a comprehensive pilot training. EHTER's  nine modules 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, responder safety, building assessment, solid waste/hazardous materials, and disaster management.

    CDC strives to make EHTER available to the environmental health workforce at the state, local, tribal, and territorial levels. To help ensure that this critical component of the public health workforce has the training they need in emergency response, EHTER is also available through the following mechanisms:

    • Free online course through the National Environmental Health association (registration is required)
    • Free in-person training (NOTE: Please click on the “Continue with LIMITED functionality” tab to proceed)

    Environmental health practitioners 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 them with the basic knowledge, skills, and resources to address the environmental health concerns that result from emergencies and disasters.

    More than 600 environmental health practitioners from all 50 states, two territories, and the District of Columbia have completed EHTER pilot trainings. 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 the training with each successive pilot. Participants have also demonstrated real-world application of the concepts and information learned, improving response capacity during actual emergencies and disasters such as power outages, a train derailment with release of hazardous materials, 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. Other states have followed this example, including Arizona, California, and Louisiana.

    Next Steps

    In addition to continuing to disseminate the training as widely as possible, CDC experts are working to develop intermediate and advanced-level EHTER courses. Train-the-trainer courses are being planned for late 2009 at the DHS/FEMA Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, Alabama.

    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.