Environmental health--the invisible profession, Part 2.

In my first president's message, I outlined some of the symptoms of the "invisible-profession" malady that many of us believe we are suffering from. During my time on the NEHA Board of Directors, I have been collecting ideas and comments from individuals and groups about ways to make environmental health more visible. I will outline some of these suggestions later in this column.

Historically, our professional forebears did huge amounts of preventive environmental health work to reduce disease and premature death, largely in the area of infectious-disease prevention, which allows us today to have a life expectancy that is much increased from that of 100 years ago. The general public remain very interested in their individual and collective health, and policy makers are very engaged with the environmental and health conditions affecting their constituents. So why, then, do we have a hard job explaining the comprehensive nature of environmental health to friends and family? Why is it that when we went into a state governor's office a number of years ago for an Environmental Health Week Proclamation signing and photo shoot, the Governor asked us on the way out of the office, "What is environmental health anyway?"

One of our professional forebears is Larry Gordon, who is also a prolific writer. In one of his papers on marketing, he makes the following points:

* environmental health is valuable,

* environmental health is essential,

* environmental health is marketable,

* the market has not been adequately analyzed and understood, and

* marketing efforts have been commenced with no or poorly defined targets in sight and have failed to reach and effectively influence the market.

A telling article by Michele Morrone, Alejandra Tres, and Ruben Aronin, titled "Creating Effective Messages About Environmental Health," appeared in the July 2005 Journal of Environmental Health. The article compared results from three focus groups: environmental health professionals, policy makers, and the public. There were some similarities in perceptions but also some striking differences. The study tested tag lines on the focus groups, and the tag line that resonated with all three groups was "Affecting everyone, every day." There was also agreement on lack of adequate staffing. Several quotes from policy makers highlighted differences in perception: "When you say 'environmental health,' people think of forests and deer," and "I don't see the connection between environmental health and West Nile virus.... I mean, you can't even plan for it or prevent it."

Rebecca Berg's article on media relations, "Environmental Health and the Media, Part 3: Make Noise, Make the News," which appeared in the January 2006 issue of the Journal, enumerated the following tensions between the media and environmental health:

* a taste for drama versus a preference for sober understatement,

* a tendency to generalize versus a tendency to qualify, and

* a desire for the limelight versus a tendency to hide.

Maybe we are our own worst enemies in preferring to be invisible over being in the limelight?

At a recent Interstate Environmental Health Affiliates meeting, I presented a number of "visibility" ideas that are already in motion in different parts of the country:

* Capital Circle in Tallahassee: "Adopt a Road"--legislators regularly drive by these signs sponsored by the Florida Environmental Health Association.

* An attractive Minnesota Environmental Health Association Web site with a great loon call can be found at www.mehaonline.org/.

* Eastern Kentucky University has a great DVD encouraging students, especially minority students, to consider environmental health as a career path.

* www.rivcoeh.org/opencms/rivcoeh/Prog-Services/Food_Program/Program_Awards.html--click on the movie ad link to see a career promotion video and search the site for attractive job announcements.

After presenting these items, I asked the audience what more could be done to improve visibility. Here are bulleted selections from their suggestions:

* a Capitol Hill Day in which NEHA members meet their representatives and senators,

* Senate aides could be invited to NEHA headquarters to learn more about current environmental health issues,

* mentor legislators and invite them to conferences,

* podcasts on various environmental health concerns,

* title-on-reverse T-shirt (photo opportunities during emergency events),

* pictures!--environmental health lends itself to visual displays,

* could we be ready with press releases and experts for the next E. coli outbreaks?

* invite high school students from a 50-mile radius to our annual educational conferences (both national and state affiliate conferences),

* get a marketing firm to assist NEHA on marketing directions,

* have a marketing strategy that state level agencies could adapt to their local needs,

* title--"sanitarian" and "EHS" are confusing,

* mandate professional registration,

* James Herriott books--do environmental health stories in a similar vein?

* Rebecca Berg to do Reader's Digest stories on environmental health,

* DVD encouraging high school students to consider environmental health as a course of study,

* local environmental health practitioners to serve as high school science fair judges,

* environmental health-focused high school Disease Detectives competition, and

* governor proclamations of Environmental Health Days.

The ideas are great, but the energy level in the room to move ahead on some of these ideas was even greater. As I mentioned in my previous column, I have asked several active NEHA members to coordinate the marketing activities that are being undertaken around the country so that we have maximum output and as little tripping over one another as possible. I believe these activities will be most effectively accomplished at the grassroots level and could involve affiliates, individuals, and sister organizations, which are also addressing issues related to the problem of the "invisible profession."

In addition, I'm hopeful that the workgroup can identify corporate partners, granting agencies, foundations, and sponsors who would be willing to fund the hiring of marketing specialists to work and give us guidance on a broader scale.

Robert G. Blake

Rob Blake R.E.H.S., M.P.H.

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