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The Nexus of Environmental Risk and Health Impacts Students, Local Volunteers Will Utilize Cutting Edge Personal Size Mobilemonitors & GPS Devices to Track Air & Water Pollution, Digital Video Cameras to Document Causes

Posted on: Thursday, 19 April 2007, 12:00 CDT

NEW YORK, April 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "For decades, we have waited for the government to tell us whether or not we have clean air and clean water, and too often they have failed in this basic public health task," said Dr. Jane L. Delgado, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health. "That is why today we begin a new cutting-edge program which will match students and local volunteers with the latest mobile pollution monitoring technology (Eco-Pacs), GPS systems, and video recording devices that will help establish a national database for reporting on local air and water quality where people live, learn and work."

The new program, Health Environment Action Network (HEAN), is being launched by the National Alliance for Hispanic Health (the Alliance), the nation's leading Hispanic health advocacy group, in partnership with Environmental Countdown and community-based agencies in four states. The program is funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Michigan.

Program participants will carry portable digital video cameras to document their experiences and the local causes of pollution. All videos and summary data will be posted to the Environmental Countdown website (http://www.environmentalcountdown.com/) giving access to people from across the nation and around the world. Organizers believe this new effort will help Americans to better understand the connection between health and the environment.

Air pollution presents a significant threat to all communities. Moreover, nearly twenty-six million Hispanics, or two-thirds of Hispanics in the United States, live in areas that fall short of federal air quality standards. These areas include major urban areas, suburban communities, and population areas along the U.S.-Mexico border.

This month the program launches in four cities across the United States: Brooklyn, New York; Detroit, Michigan; Brownsville, Texas; and Watsonville, California. This means that students in South Brooklyn will be able to compare their findings with peers in northern California. Furthermore, community volunteers in Detroit will be building a record of environmental concerns along with program participants along the U.S.-Mexico border in south Texas. More cities are expected to be added to the Health and Environment Action Network next year.

Data gathered by the dozens of program participants will be uploaded, each day, to a national website that will allow the local and national public to track the results and compare them to EPA standards.

"Many of us not only live in high-pollution neighborhoods, but also work in pollution-heavy industries," said Dr. Delgado. "And this is precisely why we sought a mobile monitoring device that would allow us to understand the levels of air pollutant exposure that we're experiencing throughout each day."

The initiative will provide community participants with the technology they need to measure and record, on video, local environmental hazards. The hard data and evidence will be put to use in formulating sensible responses.

For more information, please see the attached document for additional details on the Health Environment Action Network (HEAN) program.

About the National Alliance for Hispanic Health

The National Alliance for Hispanic Health is the nation's foremost source of information and trusted advocate for the health of Hispanics in the United States. The Alliance represents thousands of Hispanic health providers across the nation providing services to more than 14 million each year, making a daily difference in the lives of Hispanic communities and families. For more information on Hispanic health and well being, visit http://www.hispanichealth.org/.

About the Health and Environment Action Network (HEAN)

The Health and Environment Action Network (HEAN) is a national and locally driven effort committed to securing the right of all people to clean air and water. The network has been initiated in four communities to document the nexus of environmental risk and health impacts, mobilize community solutions, and secure national and local action on environmental risks that compromise the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the health and well-being of communities.

About the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was established in 1930 "to help people help themselves through the practical application of knowledge and resources to improve their quality of life and that of future generations." To achieve the greatest impact, the Foundation targets its grants toward specific areas. These include: health; food systems and rural development; youth and education; and philanthropy and voluntarism. Within these areas, attention is given to exploring learning opportunities in leadership; information and communication technology; capitalizing on diversity; and social and economic community development.

Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the southern African countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe.

PARTNER AGENCIES / LOCAL EFFORTS

This national program is coordinated with experienced community-based organizations that will provide students and adult volunteers for the next year.

Brownsville, Texas

Brownsville Community HealthCenter is a U.S.-Mexico border community health center that provides comprehensive health services with excellence and dignity to the people of South Texas. The center will be collaborating with Clearwater Elementary and Lucio Middle Schools in Brownsville to implement youth advocacy program activities and will have a particular focus on water risks in colonias (unincorporated areas) and unique air risks created by border truck traffic.

Detroit, Michigan

Community Health & Social Services Center/ CHASS is a comprehensive primary care clinic that serves the medical needs of Detroit's southwest and eastside communities. CHASS effort will have a particular emphasis on brownfields, environmental risks and urban clean water issues and will be leading an effort to mobilize a multi-ethnic coalition in support of HEAN.

Brooklyn, New York

Hispanic Federation Inc. is a membership organization of 90 Hispanic health and human services agencies in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. The Federation will be working across its membership to increase activity in environmental health issues. To implement activities the Federation is partnering with the United Puerto Rican Organization of Sunset Park (UPROSE), Brooklyn's oldest Hispanic CBO, and will have a focus on youth advocacy in support of urban waterway and parkland revitalization as well as traffic and tunnel alternatives to improve air quality.

Watsonville, California

Salud Para La Gente serves a large migrant population with a coordinated network of high quality, cost effective, and comprehensive health care services. Their HEAN efforts will have a particular focus on clean air and water issues affecting farm worker communities, including pesticides during spraying seasons.

National Alliance for Hispanic Health

CONTACT: Adam J. Segal of The 2050 Group, +1-202-422-4673, for NAHH; orAdolph Falcon of NAHH, +1-202-797-4341

Source: PRNewswire-USNewswire

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