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San Francisco Department of Public Health
Program on Health Equity and Sustainability PHES Old News |
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Peer Review Session for Healthy Planning Research and Tools October 23, 2008 "Qualitative Data Collection and Community Participation in Health Impact Assessment: a Community Survey in Los Angeles" will be the focus of our next Peer Review Session for Healthy Planning Research and Tools, with research presented by Human Impact Partners. This session will be held Thursday, October 23rd @ 10–11:30am at the San Francisco Department of Public Health, 1390 Market Street, 9th Floor. Please contact megan.wier@sfdph.org for more information or to be added to the email list.
Health, Traffic, and Environmental Justice: a Health Impact Assessment of the Still/Lyell Freeway Channel in the Excelsior District August 2008 A summary and details of our collaborative health impact assessment of traffic in the Excelsior are now available.
Paid Sick Days Health Impact Assessment August 2008 Human Impact Partners and PHES researchers at the San Francisco Department of Public Health jointly released a health impact assessment of proposed legislation that would guarantee all workers in the state at least one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. The legislation, the Healthy Families, Healthy Workplaces Act of 2008 (AB 2716), has passed in the State Assembly and is currently being considered by the State Senate. The report, A Health Impact Assessment of the California Healthy Families, Healthy Workplaces Act of 2008 finds that substantial evidence indicates that the law would have significant positive public health impacts for workers and for all Californians.
Restaurant Health and Safety Checklist. July 2008 PHES staff created a new Restaurant Health and Safety Checklist that is available on our Publications page.
PHES 2007 Annual Report. June 2008 The 2007 Annual Report of the Program on Health, Equity and Sustainability is now available from the PHES Publications Page.
Air Quality Land Use Conflict Report Available May 2008 A new report Assessment and Mitigation of Air Pollutant Health Effects from Intra-urban Roadways: Guidance for Land Use Planning and Environmental Review is available on the Publications Page.
ENCHIA/HDMT Paper Published May/June 2008 PHES staff authored a new manuscript "Creating Tools for Healthy Development: Case Study of San Francisco's Eastern Neighborhoods Community Health Impact Assessment" in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. The manuscript describes the 18-month ENCHIA process, key outcomes, and lessons learned. It also provides an overview of the Healthy Development Measurement Tool and examples of its first applications to urban planning.
Environmental Impact Assessment Paper Published April 2008 Dr. Rajiv Bhatia is co-author of a new manuscript "Integrating Human Health into Environmental Impact Assessment: An Unrealized Opportunity for Environmental Health and Justice" in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. The manuscript presents several case studies, and recommends greater collaboration along with guidance, resources, and training for integrated Health Impact Assessment and Environmental Impact Assessment practice.
Peer Review Session for Healthy Planning Research and Tools - A Framework for Defining Sustainable Food Retail in Oakland, California August 28, 10 – 11:30am This session will be presented by Hannah Burton Laurison from The session will be held from 10-11:30am in the Public Health Law & Policy offices at: 2201 Broadway, Suite 502, Oakland, CA (approximately 3 blocks from the 19th Street Oakland BART station) Please contact megan.wier@sfdph.org for more information or to RSVP if you plan to attend.Peer Review Session for Healthy Planning Research and Tools June 26th, 10 – 11:30am, 1390 Market Street, Suite 910 Neighborhood Completeness Indicators: We invite you to attend a peer review session for our new research to develop indicators of neighborhood completeness for key public and retail services in San Francisco. We will be discussing our work on Neighborhood Completeness Indicator maps and data for key public services and key retail services , which are included in our Healthy Development Measurement Tool web site. PHES is co-sponsoring this session with the Healthy Places Coalition. Please contact megan.wier@sfdph.org for more information. HIA Mini Course July 2008 Course Complete! The Health Impact Assessment Mini-Course was held in San Francisco July 22-25, 2008. New Film: Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? March-April 2008 This new 4-hour series asks this question: The U.S. is one of the richest countries on the planet. Yet, we rank 29th in the world for life expectancy, among the worst in the industrialized world. What’s happening to our health? HIA Paper Published March 2008 Dr. Rajiv Bhatia is co-author of a new manuscript "Use of Health Impact Assessment in the U.S. 27 Case Studies, 1999–2007" in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The manuscript describes several projects of the Program on Health, Equity and Sustainability. Bottled Water vs Tap Water Fact Sheet available in html February 2008One of our most popular fact sheets, Bottled Water vs. Tap Water, Making a Healthy Choice, is now available in a new format. Town Hall Meeting on Health and Land Use. January 2008Join SFDPH, other city agencies, elected officials, community organizations, for-profit and non-profit developers, researchers, and other members of the public in an exciting event: "Building an Inclusive San Francisco: Actions for Health and Equity through Land Use Decision Making." Website Changes November 2007The PHES website is undergoing some changes as SFDPH transitions to a new web design and servers. Until further notice, all PHES webpage addresses start with http://dphwww.sfdph.org/phes instead of http://www.sfdph.org/phes. Please let us know if you have trouble locating any PHES content. ENCHIA (Eastern Neighborhoods Community Health Impact Assessment) Final Report. September 2007The ENCHIA Final Report, which provides a full accounting of ENCHIA's history, process, achievements, and challenges, is now available. Additional report information and appendices can be found here. As one of the first examples of a collaborative health impact assessment of land use planning in the U.S., the report serves diverse audiences, including ENCHIA participants, San Francisco public agencies and organizations, and others who are interested in advancing healthy development policy through collaborative and participatory processes. The report is dedicated to the members of the ENCHIA Community Council for their generous commitment to the process. First HDMT Report Released: Executive Park Subarea Plan Health Impact Assessment. August 2007 A draft report of the Executive Park Subarea Plan Health Impact Assessment detailing findings from the first pilot application of the Healthy Development Measurement Tool (HDMT) is now available at the HDMT website. Our evaluation identifies 134 recommendations to improve the Plan and mitigate potential impacts. PHES 2006 Annual Report. August 2007 The 2006 Annual Report of the Program on Health, Equity and Sustainability is now available for download by clicking the link at left, or from the PHES Publications Page. Report on Day Laborers' Access to Medical Services July 2007 In collaboration with San Francisco day laborers, staff from the UNIDOS project conducted one survey and three focus groups to identify common health problems and barriers to accessing care, and suggest ways to improve day laborers’ utilization of existing services. Click here for the report of findings from the Day Laborers’ Access to Medical Services Survey and Focus Groups. Presentation to the Planning Commission. July 2007 Dr. Rajiv Bhatia presented Public health perspectives on transportation impacts and implications for CEQA Analysis to the San Francisco Planning Commission in July 2007. San Francisco noise manuscript. June 2007 The report Spatial distribution of traffic induced noise exposures in a US city: an analytic tool for assessing the health impacts of urban planning decisions has been published in the open-access peer review journal International Journal of Health Geographics. The study reports that annoyance due to traffic noise in one of the city's fastest growing neighborhoods, the South of Market Area is 2.1 times that of the lowest noise neighborhood. Overall, approximately 17% of San Francisco's population is at risk of high annoyance from traffic noise. Healthy Jobs Report. June 2007 The San Francisco Department of Public Health is excited to release the research report, “Tales of a City’s Workers: A Profile of Work and Health in San Francisco.” (pdf) The report highlights the attributes of work that affect worker health and develops a set of recommendations to improve the health of San Francisco’s workforce. The research and recommendations included in this report represent an important step towards assessing and acting on the health of the local work force in a comprehensive manner. SFDPH to Organize Film Screenings and Town Hall Meeting on Health Disparities. Fall 2007 SFDPH will host a series of events to screen and discuss Unnatural Causes, a new film by California Newsreel, to examine the root causes of health disparities in the United States. Click here to learn more about the events and how you or your organization can get involved! Draft Pedestrian Injury Model Report. May 2007 The Draft Pedestrian Injury Model Report has been linked from the Pedestrian Injury Model page. Healthy Places Act web page update. May 2007. New information on the California Healthy Places Act has been added to our website. Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center Therapeutic Farm and Garden web page update. May 2007. New information on the Laguna Honda Hospital Therapeutic Farm and Garden project has been added to our website. "Health Impact Assessment in San Francisco: Incorporating the Social Determinants of Health into Environmental Planning" published in the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. May 2007. The Journal of Environmental Planning and Management recently published Jason Corburn's and Rajiv Bhatia's manuscript describing the evolution of our work on health inequities, social determinants and planning in San Francisco. "Public-Private Partnerships Improving the San Francisco Food System" published in the Journal of the San Francisco Medical Society. April 2007. The Journal of the San Francisco Medical Society recently published Paula Jones' and Rajiv Bhatia's manuscript describing our partnerships for food system improvement in San Francisco. Treasure Island Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning web page update. April 2007. New information on the status of our Treasure Island Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning project has been added to the webpage. Public Health Analysis of Road Closures at Golden Gate Park: Motor Vehicle Collisions and Injuries. April 2007. On Tuesday April 17, 2007, The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 9-2 to a approve a proposal to close a section of Golden Gate Park to vehicle traffic. The proposal establishes new car-free space in the Park on Saturdays on JFK Drive between Tea Garden Dr. (near 8th Ave.) and Transverse Dr. for six months each year, April through September, beginning Saturday, May 26th, Memorial Day weekend. Click for the SFDPH report documenting a comparative analysis of motor vehicle collisions resulting in pedestrian or bicyclist injuries in and around Golden Gate Park on Saturdays and Sundays. In Depth Chloramination Q&A revised. April 2007. PHES staff have been working closely with the SFPUC to revise their document that provides detailed questions and answers about the use of chloramine for drinking water disinfection. The revised chloramine Q&A may be accessed directly from the drinking water epidemiology publications page, or through the SFPUC Chloramine Page. Unidos Community Council meeting April 26 2007 The next monthly Community Council Meeting of the Project Jornaleros Unidos con el Pueblo (Day Laborers United with the Community) will be on April 26, 2007, from 5-7 PM at Centro Del Pueblo auditorium 474 Valencia Street. Click for: Agenda in English or Agenda in Spanish. Healthy Development Measurement Tool website launched. March 2007. The San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) is proud to announce the launch of www.TheHDMT.org. – the website for the Healthy Development Measurement Tool (HDMT). www.TheHDMT.org provides San Francisco residents, community organizations, and public agencies with a source of data on neighborhood and city conditions that are important to healthy living. The site also provides San Francisco with a set metrics to assess how well urban projects, plans, and policies promote community health. Full press release (pdf). Food Systems Council of San Francisco receives national recognition. March 2007. On Monday, March 19th, the Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program held a reception in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the 10th year of this grant program. San Francisco Food Systems was one of the eight programs highlighted as an exemplary model. Program managers have emphasized that the strong support the Department of Public Health has given to San Francisco Food Systems is an example of food system infrastructure development and food policy coordination. Other successes mentioned are: policies supporting food stamps at farmers markets, the development of a city wide sustainable food policy, as well as the concept of Food Enterprise Zones being developed by the Redevelopment Agency.
"Protecting Health Using an Environmental Impact Assessment: A Case Study of San Francisco Land Use Decisionmaking" published in AJPH. February 2007. The American Journal of Public Health recently published Dr. Rajiv Bhatia's manuscript describing PHES work on Health Impact Assessment.
"Healthy jobs for all: what will it take." February 2007. Manel Kappagoda and Rajiv Bhatia's manuscript was recently published in Urban Habitat's publication Race, Poverty and the Environment.
Dr. Rajiv Bhatia's comments on automobile Level of Service featured in Mission Dispatch February 2007. A story in the Mission Dispatch on the status of the citywide bikeplan featured excerpts from the LOS analysis.
Unidos Community Council meeting
Unidos Community Council meeting February 22 2007 February 2007 The next monthly Community Council Meeting of the Project Jornaleros Unidos con el Pueblo (Day Laborers United with the Community) will be on February 22, 2007, from 5-7 PM at Centro Del Pueblo auditorium 474 Valencia Street. Click for: Agenda in English or Agenda in Spanish.
Bay Area Cryptosporidiosis Project releases annual report for 2006 February 2007 The report may be accessed directly from the link above.
Unidos Community Council meeting January 18 2007 January 2007 The next monthly Community Council Meeting of the Project Jornaleros Unidos con el Pueblo (Day Laborers United with the Community) will be on January 18th 2007, from 5-7 PM at Centro Del Pueblo auditorium 474 Valencia Street. Click for: Agenda in English or Agenda in Spanish.
Unidos Community Council meeting agendas and minutes January 2007 Meeting agendas and minutes for the Unidos Community Council will now be posted on the Unidos Meetings Page, which can also be accessed through the Jornaleros Unidos con el Pueblo Main Page.
Bay Area Cryptosporidiosis Surveillance Project identifies outbreak in Santa Clara County August 2006. The Bay Area Cryptosporidiosis Surveillance Project was responsible for the early detection of an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in Santa Clara County in August 2006. Drinking water was ruled out as a possible source of the outbreak. Information from case interviews conducted by the project suggested an interactive water fountain at Cesar Chavez Park in San Jose as a possible source. The Santa Clara County Environmental Health inspectors visited Cesar Chavez Park and inspected the fountain, and samples taken revealed the presence of Cryptosporidium. The fountain was closed on August 25 2006. The early detection and rapid identification of the likely source of the outbreak illustrates the importance and efficacy of SFDPH's Bay Area Cryptosporidiosis Surveillance Project, which is funded under a work order from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
Healthy Development Tool Out for Review (pdf) August 2006. The Eastern Neighborhoods Community Health Impact Assessment project sent a new version of their Healthy Development Measurement Tool for review by council members and expert reviewers.
Transportation grant received July 2006. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, the Transportation and Land Use Coalition and the San Francisco Department of Public Health have been awarded a $98,000 grant from CalTrans Division of Transportation Planning. The grant will fund community based transportation planning to create a walkable, bikeable and accessible Treasure Island. Treasure Island is a former Naval base situated midway between San Francisco mainland and west Oakland. This project will lead meaningful outreach and facilitate community participation in prioritizing sustainable transportation needs for current and future residents of Treasure Island, visitors, employees and commuters.
Asthma Task Force receives $10,000 award June 2006. The California Pacific Medical Center's 2006 Community Health Grants Program has awarded $10,000 to the SF Asthma Task Force and Asthma Resource Center of San Francisco, Inc. to focus on investigation of causal factors of pediatric asthma hospitalizations in SF, and proposal of interventions based on findings. June 2006.
Manuscript on Public Health Care Utilization among Homeless June 2006. The Journal of Urban Health recently published a collaborative manuscript Public Health Care Utilization in a Cohort of Homeless Adult Applicants to a Supportive Housing Program. The paper These findings suggest that supportive housing is a viable means of providing long-term housing stability to a difficult-to-serve population. This fulfills the primary goal of supportive housing: reducing homelessness.
ENCHIA Featured in UNSW E-News May 2006. The May 2006 issue of the E-Newsletter of the University of New South Wales Health Impact Assessment Project features the Eastern Neighborhoods Community Health Impact Assessment.
Syndromic Surveillance Manuscript Published June 2006. The Water Epidemiology program work on Syndromic Surveillance was recently published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
ENCHIA Community Council Final Meeting May 2006 The last ENCHIA meeting was a celebratory dinner and short meeting to get feedback on the outreach plan, do a short evaluation, and discuss next steps.
Healthy Development Tool Out for Review (pdf) May 2006 The Eastern Neighborhoods Community Health Impact Assessment project has sent their Healthy Development Measurement Tool out for review by council members and expert reviewers.
Pedestrian Quality Survey May 2006 In order to better understand the barriers and opportunities for walking in San Francisco, the Department of Public Health is developing a street and intersection environmental survey to assess pedestrian environmental quality. Data from the survey will provide useful information for planners to prioritize environmental changes that will potentially encourage walking.
Built Environment Legislation Introduced April 2006 The Healthy Places Act of 2006 incorporates federal, state and local levels of government in addressing environmental health issues, not only in the doctor’s office, but also on the neighborhood sidewalk, on the school playground and on Main Street. Dr. Rajiv Bhatia was one of the advisors who helped draft the bill.
Putting the "health" in "healthy" cities March 2006 The March 2006 issue of the Sierra Club Yodeler features an article by Dr. Rajiv Bhatia highlighting our Health Impact Assessment Work.
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