PHE 540 Module 8 Milestone Three Example

From Numbers to a Plan: Needs, Capacity, Assets and Strategy for Ethylene Oxide Near a Sterilizer

[Student Name]

Southern New Hampshire University

PHE 540: Principles of Environmental Health

Final Project Milestone Three

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The organization, setting and figures below are a composite written as a model document. No real employer, client, colleague or patient is described.

From Numbers to a Plan: Needs, Capacity, Assets and Strategy for Ethylene Oxide Near a Sterilizer

Milestone Two estimated that residents of the apartment complex breathe an ethylene oxide increment of about half a microgram per cubic meter above background, with children carrying the highest risk. This milestone asks what should be done. The National Research Council (1983) distinguished risk assessment from risk management; this is the bridge between them. It sets out what the community needs, what agencies can supply, what strengths the neighborhood already has and which interventions offer the best return.

Needs and Capacity Matrix

Needs were identified from the risk assessment, the residents' advisory group and two community meetings. Capacity reflects what the health department, state agency, city and plant can deliver now. Table 1 sets them side by side.

Table 1. Needs and capacity matrix

Note. Priority reflects risk reduction and community concern.

Assets Map

Kretzmann and McKnight (1993) argued that communities are better served by building on their assets than by focusing only on needs. Table 2 maps the neighborhood's assets by type.

Table 2. Community assets

Note. Assets were identified with the advisory group.

The assets change the plan's options. The community college could help maintain monitors and train residents to read data. The tenant association and churches can carry information that agencies cannot. The library offers a neutral meeting place in walking distance of the apartments.

Intervention Strategies Compared

Seven strategies were rated high, medium or low on four criteria, as Table 3 shows.

Table 3. Intervention comparison

Note. Effectiveness refers to reducing exposure unless noted.

Source control is the most effective strategy because it cuts exposure for everyone at once; Olaguer et al. (2020) showed that measured emissions can exceed reported ones, so verifying reductions with monitoring is essential. Communication and school sampling do not lower exposure but build the trust and knowledge that make other steps possible. Home filtration is rated low because common filters do not remove ethylene oxide well, and relocation, though effective for those who move, would disrupt a community that has not asked for it.

Recommended Strategy and SMART Objectives

The plan combines source control, monitoring, communication and policy. Four objectives follow. By the end of month twelve, the plant will complete fugitive emission controls on its aeration rooms and warehouse ahead of the federal deadline. By month six, two fence-line monitors will report weekly averages to a public website and to the tenant association. Beginning in month three, plain-language updates will be delivered to every apartment each quarter. By month eighteen, the city will adopt a zoning review for new homes within one kilometer of permitted emitters of hazardous air pollutants.

Partners and Roles

The plant funds controls and monitors; the state agency writes early action into the permit; the health department coordinates, interprets data and prepares updates; the community college maintains monitors; the tenant association and churches distribute updates; and the city's planning office drafts the zoning review. The advisory group meets quarterly, in the library, at an hour chosen by its members.

Funding

Costs fall mostly on the plant, which pays for emission controls and has offered to fund monitors. The health department's share, staff time for interpreting data and preparing updates, fits within its existing budget for environmental health. A grant request to the regional foundation would cover printing, interpreters and the community college's work maintaining monitors, about $28,000 over two years.

Risks to the Plan

Several things could go wrong. The plant may resist early action, arguing that the federal schedule gives it more time; the state agency's willingness to write early action into the permit is the key safeguard. Monitoring may show higher levels than expected, which would raise alarm; the communication plan prepares residents for that possibility in advance. And participation may fade after the first year, as often happens; rotating meeting times, paying stipends to tenant representatives and reporting back on every request residents make should help keep people involved.

Timeline

Months one to three focus on permit changes, monitor siting with residents and the first update. Months four to twelve cover installation of controls and the start of public monitoring data. Months thirteen to eighteen bring the zoning review to the city council and the first full evaluation.

Evaluation

Success will be judged by fence-line and neighborhood concentrations before and after controls, the share of apartments receiving updates, attendance and renter representation at advisory meetings and adoption of the zoning review. Mohai et al. (2009) note that procedural justice matters alongside outcomes; whether residents feel heard will be asked directly in a short survey each year.

Results will be shared at the library each spring.

References

Kretzmann, J. P., & McKnight, J. L. (1993). Building communities from the inside out: A path toward finding and mobilizing a community's assets. ACTA Publications.

Mohai, P., Pellow, D., & Roberts, J. T. (2009). Environmental justice. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 34, 405-430. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-082508-094348

National Research Council. (1983). Risk assessment in the federal government: Managing the process. National Academy Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/366

Olaguer, E. P., Robinson, A., Kilmer, S., Haywood, J., & Lehner, D. (2020). Ethylene oxide exposure attribution and emissions quantification based on ambient air measurements near a sterilization facility. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(1), Article 42. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17010042