Abstract of Community Outreach and Translation Core

 

The Community Outreach and Translation Core (COTC) of the Center for Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research at Harvard is working with the investigators from each of the other Projects and Cores as well as an active COTC Advisory Board to translate and apply the scientific findings of the Center into information for the public, policy makers, and clinical professionals to use to protect the health of children.

The Advisory Board represents a diverse array of community members and has included, for example, an obstetrician responsible for the majority of births in the study area; a physician responsible for treatment of patients at the local mental health out patient clinic, a public health nurse at the Indian Health Clinic, a health educator at the county health department dealing with lead poisoning prevention, a tribal environmental director, tribal designees, administrator of Integris Hospital, CEO of a mental health facility for youth, Tribal Efforts Against Lead outreach director. The COTC is concentrating its efforts on compiling and summarizing information from the literature and from the findings of Center-sponsored studies pertaining to the health risks to children that are associated with exposures to metals in mining waste; the potential interactions between metals in mining waste and nutritional status; and personal and culture-specific behaviors that may modify exposure to metals. Simple measures for assessing and mitigating risks of exposure to pregnant women and children are being communicated in the form of pamphlets and posters distributed in doctors’ waiting rooms, libraries, billboards and other public places.

The COTC’s website (www.leadagency.org) is being used to communicate progress in each of the Center’s research projects. In addition, a newsletter is being published bi-monthly that features interviews and articles of the Center’s scientists working on the project. The COTC sponsors the participation of Center faculty in teaching 12 hours of basic environmental health concepts to local students at NEO A & M College. Center faculty are being invited to guest lecture via distance learning in core classes and the nursing school at NEO and at the local vocational technical school. This Distance Learning program will allow local scholars and NEO students to take the courses for credit, which will be provided by Oklahoma State University.

Another component of the COTC is a community scholars program that is recruiting and fostering the professional growth of local scholars who are interested in learning about environmental health and the Center’s research, and who will develop small research projects of their own. These scholars are being recruited within Oklahoma, especially within Ottawa County, and include individuals from various disciplines to encompass the fields of environmental health, education, environmental sciences and public policy. Finally, the COTC core is working with the Administrative Core to compile and disseminate an Annual Report.