Influencing the built environment in your community.

Editor’s note: NEHA strives to provide up­ to-date and relevant information on envi­ ronmental health and to build partnerships in the profession. In pursuit of these goals, we feature a column from the Environmen­ tal Health Services Branch (EHSB) of the Centers for Disease Control and Preven­ tion (CDC) in every issue of the Journal. In this column, EHSB and guest authors from across CDC will highlight a variety of concerns, opportunities, challenges, and successes that we all share in environmen­ tal public health. EHSB’s objective is to strengthen the role of state, local, and na­ tional environmental health programs and professionals to anticipate, identify, and respond to adverse environmental expo­ sures and the consequences of these expo­ sures for human health. The services being developed through EHSB include access to topical, relevant, and scientific informa­ tion; consultation; and assistance to envi­ ronmental health specialists, sanitarians, and environmental health professionals and practitioners Hilary Heishman is a CDC Prevention Specialist. Andrew Dannenberg is the As­ sociate Director for Science in the Division of Emergency and Environmental Health Services, where he oversees the health and built environment group that is exploring links between community design and pub­ lic health. s discussed in the July/August issue of the Journal of Environmental Health, environmental health specialists at A Colorado’s Tri-County Health Department, as well as at health departments in other states, have expanded their traditional land use pro­ gram activities (Roof & Glandon, 2008; Roof & Maclennan, 2008; Roof & Oleru, 2008; Roof & Sutherland, 2008). In addition to giv­ ing developers required reviews about issues such as air quality and wastewater manage­ ment, environmental health specialists now comment on issues such as access to physical activity, pedestrian safety, and noise. These environmental health specialists have built relationships with planning departments in Colorado’s Adams, Arapahoe, and Douglas counties, and have become more engaged in city planning. Tri-County’s environmental health special­ ists do this because residents’ health is af­ fected by the way a community is designed and built. As public health professionals, we can broaden our ability to protect persons and prevent injury and disease by improving where we live, work, shop, and play. Yet improving places to protect public health is not a new concept. Because environmental health professionals regularly deal with factors such as restaurants, septic systems, air quality, recreation areas, water quality, and housing, we are familiar with the many ways in which the built environment affects a person’s health. We work every day to prevent the negative health impacts that the built environment may cause. Even though addressing land use, the built en­ vironment, and community design is thought of as new, in some ways environmental health professionals have been there all along. As our knowledge grows regarding how the built environment affects a person’s health, environmental public health professionals should adapt to incorporate new knowledge and increase its effectiveness. In most places, environmental health professionals are not required to consider the built environment in their daily work. Although we may do this voluntarily because of the value it adds, a broad interpretation of our mission to protect the public’s health should include addressing land use and the built environment.