HIA Practitioners 2010 Summer Training Course -- Completed!

SFDPH completed our third annual summer training course for health impact assessment (HIA) practitioners on June 22-25 in San Francisco. We had a very successful training with 35 attendees from California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, Washington DC, Spain and Thailand.

 

The diverse group brought a range of experiences and expertise – from individuals working at the local, regional, national, and international levels, in areas including land use, transportation, mental health, education, community engagement, participatory research, public housing, tourism, nutrition, environmental health, health equity, environmental justice and more.

 

The overall goal of the course was to provide current and future practitioners of HIA experience using available procedures, regulations, and tools to implement an HIA. Course participants provided very positive feedback and excitement about applying the methods learned to their local context as demonstrated through comments in course evaluations:

 

This workshop has been terrific in all ways. The presenters, participants, location, food were all well thought out and very professional. The readings and binders have very useful information which I know I will refer to often. Your department has been very dedicated to teaching newcomers the HIA process which I really appreciate.”

Will recommend this course!.. These tools are all useful to our work, and I feel confident now in writing grants to support integration of HIA in our public health capacity building efforts as a non-profit public health institute.”

Thank you so much. It is obvious how hard you worked to put this workshop together. Your passion shows… I am very excited about returning home with lots of new ideas.”

It was a great class and was very timely - I'm helping out with an HIA this week and next in Denver's 5-points area. Thank you!”

 

SFDPH greatly appreciates financial support received from the California Endowment to help provide tuition stipends to course participants in need of financial aid.

Our next HIA training is planned for mid-year 2011.

If you are interested in receiving updates about future SFDPH-organized HIA trainings, please send your name, organization, and email address to Megan Gaydos via email at megan.gaydos@sfdph.org or by phone at (415) 252-3919.

If you are interested in other upcoming HIA-related trainings, please check the HIA Collaborative or Health Impact Project.

2010 Course Details:

What:

Health Impact Assessment Practitioners Summer Training Course

When:

The 2010 course was offered June 22 – 25, 2010

Where:

1 South Van Ness Avenue

Atrium Conference Room

San Francisco, CA

Instructors:

HIA practitioners at the San Francisco Department of Public Health and community, academic, and local government partners

Cost:

$960 (includes the cost of course materials, breakfast and lunch; accommodations and travel not included)*

Training objectives include:

Day 1:

Review and discuss the value and purpose of HIA as a healthy public policy tool.

Learn the steps and tasks of a typical HIA.

Discuss successes and lessons learned from HIA case studies.

Gain experience in the screening and scoping stages of HIA.

Understand roles for community members, public agencies, decision-makers and other stakeholders.

Day 2

Develop general understanding of how to utilize epidemiologic evidence to predict and quantify health impacts

Understand tasks, goals, and range of methods used in the assessment stage of HIA

Learn about the development and use of community health indicators for HIA, including practice using the Healthy Development Measurement Tool (HDMT) to assess existing neighborhood conditions

Discover and apply GIS-related spatial assessment tools, including the Pedestrian Environmental Quality Index

Understand roles for community members, public agencies, decision-makers and other stakeholders

Day 3

Continue to learn about approaches that can be used in the assessment stage of HIA, including forecasting tools and health risk assessment and modeling.

Understand a general approach to evaluating and utilizing epidemiologic evidence and health risk assessment to predict and quantify health impacts of public policies.

Through problem solving, understand sources of uncertainty and limitations of evidence.

Understand a general approach for identifying recommendations and analyzing alternatives and mitigations.

Discuss principles for ethical use of evidence in decision-making and implications for HIA practice

Day 4

Learn about the communication, monitoring, and evaluation stages of HIA.

Discuss the opportunities provided by environmental impact assessment for integrated health/social/environmental analysis.

Collectively explore opportunities to advance HIA in practitioners’ jurisdictions.

Consider lessons for successful HIA applications including various roles stakeholder and decision-maker buy-in and inter-agency communication.

 

The HIA Course Outline 2010 describes the course in more detail.

 

Please contact hiacourse.dph@sfdph.org or call 415-252-3919 with any questions.