NUR 4145 Community and Population Focused Health
NUR 4145 Community and Population Focused Health
NUR 4145 Community and Population Focused Health
Clinical Assignment #2: Environmental Health
This assignment will develop a beginning understanding of environmental health concepts in the community setting. Students will consider how HealthyPeople 2020 environmental health themes impact their community, and apply concepts such as “social justice” and “the greater good” in evaluating public health initiatives.
Learning Objectives
- Describe the impact of various environmental public health hazards.
- Investigate strategies that address solutions to environmental public health hazards.
- Explore policy and legislation related to environmental health issues in the community. NUR 4145 Community and Population Focused Health
Background
Students should familiarize themselves with HealthyPeople 2020’s Environmental Health objectives, which focus on 6 themes: 1) outdoor air quality; 2) surface and ground water quality; 3) toxic substances and hazardous wastes; 4) homes and communities; 5) infrastructure and surveillance; and 6) global environmental health.
Students can access https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/environmental-health for more information.
Instructions for Individual Activity
Each student will choose one of the HealthyPeople 2020’s Environmental Health themes to investigate and explore how their community (chosen with Clinical Assignment #1: Community Assessment/Windshield Survey) is affected and impacted by this theme, as well as what is being done to address this environmental health theme to safeguard or improve societal and environmental health. Students should search relevant public/governmental agency websites and media/newspaper publications to help understand the situation from historical, present, and future oriented perspectives. The EPA’s My Environment website may also be helpful (https://www3.epa.gov/enviro/myenviro/). Students will then create a 2-page paper (approximately 500 words) that addresses the following:
- Briefly describe the selected environmental health theme.
- Discuss how the community is affected/impacted by this environmental health theme.
- Explore the selected environmental health situation from historical, present, and future-oriented perspectives.
- Discuss any strategies that are planned or have been implemented to address this environmental health theme to safeguard or improve societal and environmental health. Consider the barriers and facilitators for success of these strategies. Propose strategies if none are found.
- Within the paper, students should consider and address population health concepts such as “social justice” and “the greater good.” NUR 4145 Community and Population Focused Health
- Student should utilize and appropriately cite relevant public/governmental agency websites and media/newspaper publications to substantiate their writing.
- Students will submit their APA formatted paper to Brightspace by the assigned due date.
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Group activity
At the clinical site (or as directed by your clinical instructor), students will present and discuss their findings of the HealthyPeople 2020: Environmental Health Investigation paper developed in the individual activity portion of the assignment.
Together, group members will discuss their findings and the significance of the environmental health issues explored.
- After hearing from your classmates, how do you rate the overall quality of the environmental health of your chosen community? Would you choose to live here? Why or why not?
- Which environmental theme presented was most concerning to you? Why?
- How will this information influence you, both personally and professionally? Do you plan to change any practices?
- What can we do as health care professionals to promote environmental health? Think about the different care areas where nurses practice: how can we make an impact in each of these settings?
- Acute care hospitals
- Long term care facilities
- Schools
- Jails/Prisons
- Other outpatient settings
References
Demarco, R.F. & Healey-Walsh, J. (2020). Community and public health nursing: Evidence for practice (3rd Ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer
Lippincott CoursePoint+ Enhanced for DeMarco’s Community and Public Health Nursing 3rd edition
Outdoor air quality can have lasting long-term effects on health. According to the CDC, poor
air quality can lead to respiratory and cardiovascular damage. There are many sources that can
lead to poor air quality from industrial pollution to wildfires. The CDC notes that unhealthy air
emissions have been decreasing, but that as many as 127 million people still live in areas where
poor air quality exceeds national standards.
In Chicago, the neighborhood of Little Village, is heavily impacted by poor air quality due to
industrial pollution. When looking at a map of Chicago, we can see that Little Village is zoned
for residential areas and industry. This industry is one of the major causes of poor air quality in
Little Village. The Natural Resources Defense Council (2018), with data from the CDC, created
an interactive map showing that Little Village area had one of the heaviest environmental
burdens in the city. This poor air quality also leads to health problems. In 2017, Little Village
had 1,008 admissions to ER for issues related to asthma (Chicago Health Atlas, 2017).
Historically, Little Village has long been an area with heavy industry. After the great
Chicago fire in 1871, some industrial companies decided to rebuild on the outskirts of the city,
which is now the neighborhood of Little Village (Schmidt, 2013). This area at the time was
mostly farmland. People began to move to the area to work in these newly built factories. The
neighborhood grew and was one of the most densely packed neighborhoods in Chicago
(Schmidt, 2013). In 1926, the Crawford coal plant was built. It would remain operational in
Little Village for almost 100 years. In 2012, after years of pressure from environmental groups,
then mayor Rahm Emmanuel, brokered an agreement to have the coal plant shut down (Wernau,
2012). A neighboring coal plant in Pilsen, the Fisk Coal Plant, was also shut down at the same
time. NUR 4145 Community and Population Focused Health
The Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVJEO) has long been active in
advocating and strategizing plans to improve the environmental health of the Community. The
LVJEO were heavily responsible in the closure of the Crawford Power Plant (Wernau. 2012).
They worked closely with the city and the EPA to bring a much-needed park to the neighborhood
in 2014. Currently, they are protesting the decision by the city to allow the former Crawford site
to become a large-scale Target distribution center. The LVJEO claims that a distribution center
will still impact the neighborhood air quality negatively due to increase in diesel truck emissions
(Isaacs, 2020). The LVJEO said the city shut them out of talks related to the sale of the land
(Isaacs, 2020).
After the closure of the plant in 2012, the LVEJO advanced a proposal to repurpose the
land into an area for urban agriculture that would offer training and jobs to residents of the
community (Isaacs, 2020). They secured an agreement with the owners of the land to follow
certain “guiding principles”, like environmental impact, when considering development options.
A year later, the land was sold to Hilco development who ignored these “guiding principles” set
by the LVEJO and petitioned the city to allow the construction of a distribution center.
The LVEJO must focus on a policy level change to Chicago zoning laws as a strategy for
environmental justice. Chicago’s zoning laws were designed in the early part of the 20th century
to advance the construction of industries in the city. These laws do not require that meetings be
held with the community when zoning an area, they do not require the city to perform an impact
assessment on health, transportation, or environment of the zoned area, nor does it require the
city to share information with the public on zoning decisions (Isaacs, 2020). All of this keeps the
community in the dark and allows major zoning decisions and sales to be made without public
knowledge. NUR 4145 Community and Population Focused Health
There is always the question of what will bring the greatest good to the community.
Industries that are currently operating in Little Village and those that want to build industry in
Little Village say that they bring the benefit of much need employment to an area were many
live in poverty. The environmental impact of the industries is real. Do jobs outweigh the lasting
health effects that residents will suffer from? Is justice really being served if the only small
percentage of peoples are benefiting, while the rest of a community must deal with the issues
brought on by poor air quality? The residents of Little Village think that the greater good
includes environmental justice and will continue to work towards that goal.
References
Chicago Health Atlas. (2017). https://chicagohealthatlas.org/indicators/HDED?topic=asthma-edvisits
Geertsma, M. (2018). Natural Resource Defense Council. https://www.nrdc.org/experts/meleahgeertsma/new-map-shows-chicago-needs-environmental-justice-reforms
Isaacs, C. (2020). Environmental justice in Little Village: A case for reforming Chicago’s zoning
laws. Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy, 15(3).
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/322576386.pdf
Schimdt, J. (2013). South Lawndale, aka Little Village. WBEZ Chicago.
https://www.wbez.org/stories/south-lawndale-aka-little-village/08cd0f0a-248a-464d84ec-75995bc6bec4
Wernau, J. (2012). Fisk, Crawford coal plants had long history, as did battle to close them.
Chicago Tribune. https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-xpm-2012-09-02-ct-biz0902-crawford-fisk-20120902-story.html NUR 4145 Community and Population Focused Health
