The Community Development Department is working closely with Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), Cook County Public Health Department (CCPHD) and USEPA Region 5 Brownfields to establish a Community Health Monitoring Program for the City of Blue Island.
What is Community Health Monitoring?
The Community Health Monitoring program will provide local residents the opportunity to identify public health and quality of life issues (such as the environment, safety, public & mental health, education, etc.) that most concern them. ATSDR will develop corresponding indicators that will allow us to measure and track improvements in the community identified issues as we move ahead with our redevelopment plans.
The Community Health Monitoring program encourages participants to think about broad public health topics connected to community health:
- Health – physical and mental health;
- Community – education, economy, safety, security;
- Land and Environment – contaminated soil/water/air, parks, waterways; and
- Buildings and Infrastructure – dilapidated building, grocery stores, sidewalks.
What is the Community Health Monitoring Action Model?
Using the community identified public health concerns and the corresponding measures, ATSDR develops what they refer to as an “Action Model”. The ATSDR Action Model is a 4-step process to assess local health issues and addresses the ways they can be measured and eventually improved. The 4 steps are:
- What are the issues in the community?
- How can redevelopment address these issues?
- What are the corresponding community health benefits?
- What data are needed to measure change?
- Introduction/Kickoff meeting, 3/12/2009
- Workshop #1, 6/10/2009
- Workshop #2, 10/15/2009
- Action Model Draft – March 2010 **DRAFT, Please Do Not Cite**
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