As a long-time partner and sponsor, Accela always looks forward to attending The National Environmental Health Association’s (NEHA) Annual Educational Conference (AEC), and the chance to connect with environmental health professionals in person.
This year’s AEC runs from July 31 to August 1 in New Orleans, LA, and we’re bringing several bright minds in EH with us! Accela’s annual scholarship for the NEHA AEC recognizes creative thinkers who offer smart solutions to an essay prompt covering innovation and best practices in environmental health.
Meet the winners of the Accela Scholarship for the NEHA 2023 AEC!
For four days, our big thinkers will attend sessions on topics such as climate change, data and technology, food safety, emergency preparedness and response, and more at the NEHA AEC.
We received many great responses this year on our prompt question:
How can the environmental health profession improve the visibility and value of its work and data, both within the local community as well as amongst state, national and/or academic stakeholders?
The four winners we are honoring inspired Accela with their thoughtful responses. Kara Cronkite, the Chief of Inspections and Audits with the Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board, suggested that emphasizing new and exciting areas of environmental health, such as cannabis, can serve as a window into the rest of the field and the impact EH has for consumers as well as regulators. She also noted the need for additional federal/state/academic cooperation to evaluate data around cannabis product quality testing and regulatory best practices for protecting minors.
Cassidy Reynolds, an inspector with the Jersey County Health Department in Illinois, reported that local environmental health professionals can leverage the visibility they already have access to with the local community, while working to achieve the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards has helped her department gain state and national recognition.
Our winners noted that EH professionals must have the technology tools not just for gathering and analyzing data, but also for presenting it as insights via online dashboards and maps. “Many health departments have improved the visibility and value of their work for partners through online sharing of inspections, listing registered/licensed facilities, providing rules and offering on-line forms,” wrote Amy Holinbaugh, of Mahoning County Environmental Health.
Jan Jaminal, of Washington DC’s Department of Health, noted that to build strategic partnerships with policy makers and community stakeholders, “GIS mapping, web-based inspection forms, and online dashboards are needed to determine the existence of an issue and justifying the need for an intervention.” I couldn’t agree more—that’s what Accela Environmental Health is all about: building relationships with such stakeholders through collaborative efforts to improve local regulatory standards, emphasizing and improving the deployment of data as insights via interactive online dashboards and maps.
Meet Accela at the NEHA 2023 AEC
Stop by Booth 303 to visit with me, catch product demos of Accela Environmental Health and discuss the best ways to leverage our expertise to modernize your processes!
We are a proud sponsor of the AEC’s Technology Track to support the continued advancement of technology in the environmental health practice. At the conference, plan to attend my presentation with San Diego County on using Community Needs Assessment Data to drive county services.
“Community Needs Assessment Data Drive County Services”
Wednesday, August 2nd
4:00 PM to 4:50 PM
Room: Commerce
See you in New Orleans!
