 June, 11, 2011, Children's EPA Community Forum: Protecting Schoolchildren From Environmental and Chemical Hazards. will be held in Semmes, Alabama (near Mobile) from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., in the meeting room of Semmes Branch of the Mobile Public Library. Health impact from natural disasters and disaster clean-up on children will be discussed, including the BP Oil Spill disaster, Hurricane Katrina will be included. Discussion and Q & A are encouraged. Refreshments will be provided. June 11, 2011 Guest speakers:
Claire Barnett, whose younger son was pesticide-injured at school while she served on a New York State Governor’s commission, has a BA from
Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA and a MBA from Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. She is founder and Executive Director of the Healthy Schools Network, Inc. a national award-winning environmental health not for profit research, education, and advocacy organization, and the Coordinator of the national Coalition for Healthier Schools, convened by the Network and its national advisers. The Healthy Schools Network has challenged the nation with a call to action to ensure that schools are environmentally responsible to children, to personnel, and to communities. She convened the fledgling Network in 1995 as a New York statewide coalition; it has won new funds and multiple laws on school environments in the nation’s third largest educational system (New York State) and the nation’s single largest school district (New York City). She also fostered successful replications of the Network’s agenda in over a dozen states. Under her leadership, the national Coalition has won two federal laws and funds for schools, including US EPA Healthy Schools Initiative which will issue federal environmental health guidelines and state grants to advance healthy environments for children. The Network is an EPA partner in environmental health and coordinates National Healthy Schools Day annually.
Dr. Turner-Henson is a Professor at the University of Alabama School Of
Nursing, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). She holds joint
adjunct faculty appointments in the UAB Schools of Medicine (General
Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine) and Public Health (Maternal Child
Health Division). Dr. Turner-Henson has dedicated herself to providing
visionary leadership in research, policy development (local, state,
national), and community empowerment in the areas of child health,
environmental health, and children with special needs. She has conducted
interdisciplinary research to test innovative models of care (e.g.,
asthma, secondhand smoke reduction, household chemicals), resulting in
adoption of these programs in various Alabama communities in local
school districts, child care programs (Head Start) and community-based
organizations. She serves on multiple state
and national committees as an advocate for child health. Dr.
Turner-Henson is a member of the United States Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee. Dr. Turner-Henson is project director of the Leadership Education in Child-Health Nursing program (LECHN), funded by the Maternal Child Health Bureau, DHHS. The aim of the LECHN program is to prepare the next generation of nursing faculty leaders in child-health nursing education who conduct biobehavioral research. Empowering communities through building grassroots initiatives to reduce children’s environmental risk and promote healthy communities is a key focus of her work. In 2010, Professor Turner Henson, gave a one day workshop for nurses at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Nurses & Environmental Health: Health Consequences of the Gulf Oil Spill The workshop informed nurses and health professionals about the environmental health consequences of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill and taught health risk communication strategies. Continuing education credit was offered without cost to attendees of the workshop, which was sponsored by the University of South Alabama College of Nursing, University of Alabama, Birmingham, School of Nursing, Leadership Education in Child-Health Nursing (LECHN) Program, and University of Maryland Environmental Health Education Center. Nancy Swan, founder and director of Children's Environmental Protection Alliance and host of Children's EPA Community Forum, will make a presentation about her chemical exposure and injury, and injuries to more than two dozen schoolchildren during a roofing renovation project at the school where she was teaching school. She will introduce Children's EPA mission to promote federal and state disaster plans to include specific Disaster Plans for children and schools. Nancy Swan will moderate Q and A, include submitted Q and A, commentary, suggestions. Mrs. Swan hosted three CDC/ATSDR Community Conversations in Mobile, Alabama in 2010 as part of the CDC/ATSDR National Conversation on Public Health and Chemical Exposure. She submitted the results of the Community Conversation and participated in review of CDC/ATSDR policy changes. Nancy Swan earned a BA in Home Economics and Theater and attended graduate school at San Jose State University of California and the University of Southern Mississippi. While teaching public school for ten years, Mrs. Swan earning a masters level education through the University of Southern Mississippi, wrote and illustrated Threads and Stuff, a textbook/workbook for to teach basic learning skills through practical application, and directed and designed lighting for dozens of community, church, and school musicals and plays. Mrs. Swan will moderate questions, provide resources for additional information, and suggest opportunities and programs available for community members, school officials, and government support to improve environmental and chemical protection for schoolchildren. Children's Environmental Protection Alliance will continue to sponsor Children's EPA Community Forums to
Free admission. Preregistration is not necessary, but is encouraged. Attendees may email questions and concerns in advance. Please email Nancy Swan at cepaorg@gmail.com Please provide the following information:
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