At a glance
Learn how environmental health programs support Essential Public Health Service 7 and public health accreditation. Essential Public Health Service 7 is "Assure an effective system that enables equitable access to the individual services and care needed to be healthy."
Activities that support this essential service
Here are some examples of common activitiesA that help deliver Essential Public Health Service 7 (Assure an effective system that enables equitable access to the individual services and care needed to be healthy).
Ensuring all community members have equal access to health care and social services needed as a result of environmental exposures by identifying and addressing barriers to services.
Identifying and addressing factors (for example, language barriers, access to information technology) limiting access or creating barriers to environmental health services.
Convening the multiple agencies with responsibility in areas of environmental health (for example, identification and remediation of chemical exposures) to ensure a coordinated, timely program delivery system that is responsive to all community members.
Activities that connect to accreditation standards
Environmental health programs also link to and support broader public health initiatives such as public health accreditation. Following are examples of activities that could contribute to accreditation by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). Completing these activities does not guarantee conformity to PHAB documentation requirements.
PHAB Standard 7.1: Engage with partners in the healthcare system to assess and improve health service availability.
- Collaborating with the healthcare system to identify populations experiencing barriers to environmental public health services. (For example, clinical services for assessment and treatment of environmental exposures such as blood lead screening.)
PHAB Standard 7.2: Connect the population to services that support the whole person.
- Developing referral mechanisms among the community's environmental public health and protection programs to link community members to needed services and ensure all community members have equal access to all services. (For example, develop protocols for referrals for children's blood lead screening services, home lead inspections, and lead remediation services.)
- Examples are not exhaustive.