Education Workshop

Find out More About Hidden Environmental Contaminants

&

Creating A Healthy Environment For You And Your Family

Developed by

Exposure Pathways Education ProjectSharon MacKenzie Public Health Nurse

Public Health ServicesA Shared Service of

Cape Breton District Health Authority (CBDHA)

& Guysborough Antigonish Strait Health Authority

(GASHA)

IcebreakerGetting To Know You!

Public Health ServicesWho Are We?

Shared ServiceCape Breton District Health Authority

Guysborough Antigonish Strait Health Authority

Who Are We?Our Team consists of an interdisciplinary

group of professionals working at the community, district, provincial, and national levels of the health care system.

Public Health Nurses Licensed Practical

Nurses Dental Hygienists Health Educators Nutritionists

Support Staff Managers Medical Officer of

Health Tobacco Reduction

Coordinators

What We Do ?Public Health Services Focuses

on the following six (6) functions: Assess the Health

of PopulationsHealth

SurveillancePopulation Health Advocacy

Health PromotionDisease and

Injury PreventionHealth Protection

Who Are We ?

Public Health Services, following a “Population Health Approach” works in partnership with communities, families andindividuals to prevent illness, protect and promote health and achieve well being

Who Are We?We do so by advocating for healthy

public policy and encouraging action around the “determinants of health” ( Source: Health Canada)

Income and Social Status

Social Support Networks

Education Employment/Working

Conditions Social Environments Physical

Environments

Personal Health Practices and Coping Skills

Healthy child development

Biology and Genetics Health services Gender Culture

Overall Purpose Of Today’s Workshop:

To increase participants understanding of

1.Environmental Contaminants2.Pathways of Exposure3.Ways to reduce or avoid Exposure

By the End of Today’s Workshop, Participants will

1.Understand the properties of 5 environmental contaminants

2.Understand how contaminants travel from a source,through the environment into people (Exposure Pathways)

3.Identify ways to help reduce/avoid exposure to contaminants

To help understand the risk(s) posed by environmental

contaminants, we will first explore these terms

and what they mean to people

Activity 1Explore what these words mean to the group

EnvironmentalContaminants

Am I At Risk?

Are my Children At Risk?

Activity 2Purpose of the activity is to explore how you Rate your Risk of exposure to several environmental contaminants.

Not a test, nobody else will see it.

Complete Side A only

Definition Of RiskIn relation to environmental contaminants, risk can be defined as:the likelihood that an adverse health effect will occur in a person (group) that is exposed to a particular level of a harmful substanceSource:Health Canada: Health and the Environment Handbook

Definition of RiskRisk is a measure of:

Harm that can result from exposure to a contaminant

The likelihood that harm will occur

Source:Health Canada:Shared Responsibilities, Shared Vision, Reviewing the federal health protection legislation, 1998

Environmental Contaminant

A Substance(s) that has the potential to be harmful.

Contaminants can get into our food, water, air or soil.

Pollutants

ContaminantsContaminants can exist:

naturally (forest fires, volcanoes, natural geology)

orcreated by: human activities (industry,

garbage, chemical spills)

What puts us at risk of becoming exposed to an

environmental contaminant?

Exposure PathwayLink between

Source and Receptor

A) Source

B) PathwayC) Receptor

Exposure Pathway

Exposure- exposure means you do not have shelter or protection.

any contact between a substance and an individual

Exposure Pathway-the pathway a contaminant may take to reach humans or other living things (Link)

An Exposure Pathway Consists of 5 Elements

Source

TransportPoint ofExposure

Route ofExposure

ReceptorPopulation

Source

Where the harmful substance is coming from:

Transport MediaWhat things the harmful substance can get into and how it moves

Air

Water

Food

Soil

Point Of ExposureA place where contact with thecontaminant could happen:

HomeWorkplace

School

Exposure RouteHow the harmful substance getsinto or contacts your body:

1. Breathe/inhale2. Swallow/ingest3. Skin contact/touch

Receptor PopulationThe people that could come incontact with the harmful substance:children, families, workers:

What environmental contaminants are we at risk if being exposed to in our

daily lives ?

Activity 3Purpose:To identify the environmental contaminant on the Activity 3 WorksheetTo become familiar with theinformation in the brochures

Arsenic

Coal Ash

Lead

PCBs

PAHs

Activity 4

Rate Your RiskSide B

Questions ?

Evaluation Forms

&

Thank You