Community & Environmental Health
Collaborative Activism Towards the Promotion of
Health! Education, Policy, Action
Join us in improving public health education at your school and advancing the health of your community through policy action.
The Community and Environmental Health Action Committee is dedicated to:
- Helping medical & premedical students educate their schools & communities about important public health issues
- Enabling medical & premedical students to influence debate about & achieve progress towards the Healthy People 2020 goals
- Empowering chapters to develop & execute local public health projects
- Providing guidance & training in public health & public health careers
Get Involved
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National Primary Care Week (October 10-14, 2011)
Theme: Innovations in Primary Care
National Primary Care Week (NPCW) is an annual event to highlight the importance of primary care and bring health care professionals together to discuss and learn about generalist and interdisciplinary health care, particularly its impact on and importance to underserved populations. This year's theme is intended to encompass a wide variety of topics, including: medical education, residency training, healthcare policy and reform, civic engagement, and leadership in primary care. NPCW programming ideas are available.
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Food Day (October 24, 2011)
The purpose of Food Day is to reduce diet-related disease by promoting healthy foods, support sustainable farms and cut subsidies to big agribusiness, expand access to food and alleviate hunger, protect the environment and animals by reforming factory farms, and promote health by curbing junk-food marketing to kids. AMSA’s goals are also to education and empowerment students to address these issues in their local communities. For more information contact Abi Struck-Marcell at ceh.grassroots@amsa.org.
Engage your local community in Food Day activities:
- Innovations in Nutrition Award
- Rx for Better Health: Changing Food-Related Disease from Farm to Fork
- Community Food Assessment Tool
- Tools for setting up a Farmer’s Market in your local hospital
- Promote NO SODA Day to encourage good nutrition
- Teach Nutrition through Cooking Classes
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CHIT Chats (Community Healers Inspiring Tomorrow)
Community Healers Inspiring Tomorrow (CHIT) Chats are a formal continuation of a webinar series that was founded within the Community and Environmental Health Action Committee last year. CHIT Chats are produced in conjunction with the American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM) and will be offered on a bimonthly basis beginning in September of the 2011-2012 academic year. CHIT Chats will be roughly one hour in length, with time afforded to participants for an open discussion with the speaker at the end. The series is intended to provide insight into novel ideas within the fields of Public and Environmental Health, Primary Care, and Preventive Medicine. Further, the series is an excellent resource and integral part of the new AMSA Academy Public Health Scholars program. For more information, contact Todd Bibb at CEH.Premed@AMSA.org.
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Public Health Scholars Program
Fall 2011 - Spring 2012
The new AMSA Academy Public Health Scholars Program will teach AMSA members how to effectively work with their local community, as well as develop, implement, and evaluate a local project. The program will include an in-person training session in community engagement for social justice, as well as program planning and evaluation. Students will then start a year-long community engagement project in their local area. The community could include their medical school class, their academic institution, their local community, or even an issue-based national community. Participants will also attend the monthly CHIT Chat webinars.
Community and Environmental Health is also working with other national leaders to promote public health issues through legislative and issue based advocacy. Current issues include defending medicare and medicaid in the current budget negotiations, reserving antibiotic use for medical treatment, and maintaining environmental legislation and oversight to prevent future disasters such as the BP Gulf Spill. Please check AMSA's legislative action center if you are interested in contacting your elected representatives about any of these issues, and keep an eye out on the Inspiration Exchange for periodic updates and action alerts on issues relating to public health and the environment.
Healthy People 2020
Healthy People 2020 provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans. For 3 decades, Healthy People has established benchmarks & monitored progress over time in order to:
- Encourage collaborations across sectors.
- Guide individuals toward making informed health decisions.
- Measure the impact of prevention activities.
New topics introduced in 2020:
- Adolescent Health
- Blood Disorders and Blood Safety
- Dementias, including Alzheimer‟s Disease
- Early and Middle Childhood
- Genomics
- Global Health
- Health-Related Quality of Life and Well-Being
- Healthcare-Associated Infections
- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Health
- Older Adults
- Preparedness
- Sleep Health
- Social Determinants of Health