Running Head ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND SAFETY Essays -

Running Head: ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND SAFETY TUI UNIVERSITY Timothy N. Tarrant Module 1: BHE 314 Health Care Delivery Systems Dr. Rania Sabty-Daily 26 July 2008 Abstract The purpose of this case study is to explain how I would involve the community in assessing the current problems related to the way household trash and hazardous trash is managed in the community, the existing resources or services available in their community to reduce, reuse, recycle, and properly dispose of trash and hazardous trash, and how they may be improved. TRASH MANAGEMENT In a developing country, an urban community is overwhelmed by trash that is poorly managed and has become a source of many hazards to the public. As a Health Educator working for an international health organization I have been tasked to assess the needs of this community. Specifically, I have been asked how to involve the community in the needs assessment plan that aims at collecting information regarding the ways in which trash (wastes), and hazardous trash (hazardous solid wastes) are managed in this community. To accomplish this I initiate a four-phase assessment of the community. The four phases of the community assessment are: assessment planning, data collection, data analysis, and program action planning. The first phase of the needs assessment is assessment planning. During this phase, I will determine the purpose and objectives of the assessment, and identify the community and determine the existing resources available to the community. To assist in this process I will establish a community advisory board and invite members of the local community to sit on this board. The advisory board will help gain the trust of the locals by involving the community stakeholders (local residents) in the process and allow the locals to help describe the current problems related to the way trash and hazardous trash is managed in the community. It is necessary to involve the community in the beginning of the assessment in order to achieve buy-in from the whole community. Once the community has been defined and the purpose and objectives have been identified, I will develop an operational management plan. This plan will determine data indicators and sources to be used, and will define personnel roles and responsibilities, to include the way meetings are organized and run. Upon completion of assessment planning, the data collection phase begins. Data collection is necessary to provide factual and/or circumstantial evidence that traces problems in the community to the waste. Part of this data collection includes conducting a community resource inventory. This will determine resource availability and identify potential health concern gaps. One way to accomplish this is by questioning community members such as, public officials, health officials, and long term residents. It is important to gather information from people who represent various backgrounds and viewpoints. Example questions might include: Does the community have access to water? Do they practice hand hygiene? How do they dispose of waste? Do you have concerns that childhood disease may be attributable to the trash or hazardous trash accumulation? Of course with this line of questioning you may attain "sympathizer" responses however, once all the data is compiled, those types of responses will sort themselves out. I would also want to determine if there is a possible link to the close proximity of the trash and/or hazardous waste to disease outbreaks of any kind. Basically is there is any disease or illness occurring in the community that might be due to environmental conditions. Keep in mind that observing community behaviors is just as important as asking questions when determining solutions to existing problems. The third phase is to analyze the data collected. Reviewing the data allows us to see what actual problems have been created by the current situation. When reviewing the data, it must be determined what the community doing right. This will determine if the current system needs to be tweaked or if it needs a total overhaul. In order to be effective you must spend sufficient time in this third phase. You must look for all the positives, find out what are the existing resources or services available in their community to reduce, reuse, recycle and properly dispose of trash. A proper analysis will allow you to prioritize the top needs of the community and help to better utilize resources to fix existing problems. Due to the poor nature of this community, resources are most likely going to be limited. It is important for all of the stakeholders to agree on the primary needs of the community and be able to rank them accordingly. Once the