MSU Extension Michigan Sea Grant

Background

The Great Lakes Center for Fresh Waters and Human Health Community Engagement Core proposed to conduct a community public health-focused engagement workshop to complement the community-engaged scholarship workshop for center scientists conducted in 2019 (tinyurl.com/yf25mbkm). Instead of planning, hosting, and evaluating a community engagement workshop for public health practitioners at the beginning months of the global COVID-19 pandemic, we focused on facilitating virtual collaborations and meetings, including the joint Oceans and Human Health Center annual meeting held October 4-6, 2021 (tinyurl.com/y26y82dr) that had 202 registered attendees.

The meeting included two plenary speakers on the topics of microplastics and climate change. It had five topic-based sessions consisting of 26 oral presentations, seven speed talks, and 21 poster presentations, as well as pre-recorded updates from five Oceans and Human Health centers or National Institute of Health independent research R01 grants. The meeting also had a roundtable discussion with National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and National Science Foundation program officers and leaders about the future of the Oceans and Human Health portfolio. The moderated panel discussion focused on bridging the gap between research and clinical practice in oceans and human health. Below is a summary of the panel as a guide for future directions.

Panelists

• Philip Landrigan (Boston College), Moderator
• Lorrie Backer (National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Jeffrey Bernstein (Florida Poison Control Center)
• Susan Peters (Michigan Dept. of Health and Human Services)
• Wendy Stephan (University of Miami, Poison Control)
• Mike Twiner (Wayne State University Medical School)

Needs

• Improve the link between basic environmental research on oceans and freshwaters, and clinical health practice, and the health of human
• Incorporate climate into modeling efforts to predict
• Develop better tools for environmental risk
• Incorporate where the person resides into a patient care If a person lives in a high pollution area, what are the public health risks from living there?
• Conduct a needs assessment of what the learners and leaders from human and animal health clinicians need and want to know so they can effectively educate
• Train community emergency response teams to include respiratory and foodborne issues into response
• Incorporate changing climate scenarios into emergency response For example, public beach swim buoys are removed (tinyurl. com/4y2n438r) in mid-September, but water temperature continues to be comfortable for swimming, encouraging use and increasing safety risks.

Challenges

• Communities face numerous major issues, such as transportation, homelessness, food insecurity, and it can be a challenge to raise the issue of harmful algal blooms (HABs) because of other fundamental basic life needs.
• Poison control data is filtered based upon the area code the caller is calling from, not necessarily the place they have questions Could expand the poison control system to incorporate aspects of travel, for example, having a Michigan phone number but having questions related to a recent trip to Florida.
• Mixed responses from For example, some lake associations may want to know the results so the issue can be addressed, while others may not want to know results because of negative publicity for tourism and economic impacts.

Opportunities

• Compare GIS-based water sampling data with poison control respiratory call data and make information available as soon as possible to answer the question of where environmental risk is occurring Not exactly real-time, but close to real time.
• Share One Health HAB surveillance information with the American Medical Association and American Veterinary
• Involve clinicians and clinician-partnerships in proposals to better understand the human health component and human-toxin
• Invite clinicians to publish in their journals and present at their professional
• Assess the toxicological ramifications through data of known exposures of the tree downstream
• Provide education for new physicians and veterinarians who need to know more about the effects of
• Consider using community-based assets for outreach to or engagement with local communities. For example, teach about oceans, rivers, lakes, fishing, and other water-based recreational activities at a local library.

Contact

Heather Triezenberg, PhD
Community Engagement Core Director (2018-2024), NIEHS/NSF Center for Fresh Waters and Human Health Extension Specialist and Program Leader, Michigan State University Extension and Michigan Sea Grant vanden64@msu.edu | (517) 353-5508

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A special thanks to Dr. Martha Gerig, Dr. Diane Doberneck, Erica Clites, Jennifer Hunnell, Dr. George Bullerjahn, Dr. David Kennedy, and Dr. Steven Haller for your collaboration and leadership on this project. Additional appreciation for the meeting participants for sharing their perspectives, as well as institutional partners. Funding for this project was from the National Institutes of Health (1P01ES028939-01) and the National Science Foundation (1840715) to the Bowling Green State University Great Lakes Center for Fresh Waters and Human Health, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce through the Regents of the University of Michigan (awards NA180AR4170102 and NA22OAR4170084). The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Commerce, or the Regents of the University of Michigan.

Partner logos:

Great Lakes Center for Fresh Waters and Human Health
National Science Foundation
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
MSU University Outreach and Engagement
Michigan Sea Grant
NOAA
Michigan State University Extension