National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (with online CE)

National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network

The National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network integrates and presents health exposure and data information data from a variety of national, state, and city sources. It is part of the Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Agency (CDC) which tracks and studies many of the exposures and health effects that may be related to environmental hazards.

On the Tracking Network, you can view maps, tables, and charts with data about:

• chemicals and other substances found in the environment,  through Web pages as Tracking air quality and Tracking Housing Conditions
• some chronic diseases and conditions through the Health Effects page
• the area where you live through Info by Location

The Resources links at the home page (right column) include

• Communications features as podcasts, inks to social media (Facebook, Twitter), and data sources
• Quick reports which summarize key information

Online Continuing Education (CE) credits are available  through NEHA e-learning.  All CE classes may be viewed for free.  Most CE credits are fee based, however some are free through the CDC and EPA.  ( Tracking 101 online training link at About Tracking Program)

 

 

 

First aid for the under 5s

From the February 27 2011 Eureka news alert

One of the reasons often given by people for not attempting first aid in emergency situations is a lack of confidence and a fear of doing more harm than good. Yet a Norwegian study on four and five year olds published in BioMed Central’s open access journal Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine shows that even young children are able to learn and perform basic first aid.

Pre-school children at a kindergarten in Bergen, Norway, were taught first aid using the ‘five-finger-rule’ system: look at the person, talk to them, touch them to try to wake them up, call emergency services, and lastly, stay and give comfort. The children also learnt how to put each other into recovery position and how to keep an airway open.

Dr Bollig from Department of Surgical Sciences, Haukeland University Hospital, explained, “Two months later the children were still able to work out whether a person was unconscious or asleep and whether an accident victim was breathing. The children could also remember the phone number of the emergency services and accurately describe their location.” In a separate test, when one of their teachers pretended to lose consciousness the children acted as a group to put her into recovery position.

Dr Bollig suggested, “First aid training should begin in the kindergarten, via play, and be reinforced throughout school to increase confidence and encourage people to provide first aid should the need arise.”