2012 Symposium

Over one hundred advocates seeking evidence-based information on how to protect children from their exposure to environmental health toxins, gathered at the Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas on October 25 & 26, 2012, to attend the Seventh Biennial Scientific Symposium,  How School Environments Affect the Health and Educational Performance of Students, hosted by the Children’s Environmental Health Institute (CEHI).

Thank you to all the attendees who joined us at Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin, Texas as we examined how school environments affect the health andeducational performance of the over 55 million children enrolled in our K-12 public and private schools. Your participation was an important step in expanding cross-discipline communication efforts to support best practices and policies to protect the health of children in school environments. Leadership from the educational, medical, research, legal and private sectors provided scientific research on the current state of environmental health risks in schools. Information on the presentations is available for review on the CEHI website at Symposium 2012 Program Syllabus. Included in the Program Syllabus are the presentation objectives and abstracts for each presenter.

Also, available for review are the 2012 Scientific Symposium Speaker Power Point Presentations. The 2012 Scientific Symposium speakers have approved their power point presentations to be posted on the CEHI website. These distinguished experts presented exemplary programs and resources on how to prevent children from their unnecessary exposure to environmental toxins and the advantages of providing healthy school environments.

Thank you for your interest in the work of the Children’s Environmental Health Institute and support of the 2012 Scientific Symposium. We look forward to ways that we can work together to Increase awareness about the prevention of environmental health risks in schools.

Janie D. Fields

Executive Director

Purpose
Logistics
Schedule and Speaker Presentations
Speakers
Objectives
Continuing Education Credits and Accreditation
Sponsorship
Syllabus
Symposium Advisory Committee

PURPOSE

The Seventh Biennial Scientific Symposium presented recent evidence-based research to increase our understanding of how school environments affect the health and educational performance of children. Leadership from the medical, educational, research and private sector provided evidence-based scientific information on the current state of environmental health risks in schools. Distinguished experts presented exemplary programs and resources on how to prevent children from their unnecessary exposure to environmental toxins and the advantages of healthy school environments.

LOGISTICS

DATES AND TIMES:
Thursday, October 25, 1:00 -5:00 pm with a reception immediately following
Friday, October 26, 8:00 am – 5:30 pm

LOCATION:
Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas, Austin, Texas

Signe Auditorium
Pat Hayes Conference Center
4900 Mueller Blvd.
Austin, TX 78723

SCHEDULE AND SPEAKER PRESENTATIONS

Thursday, October 25, 2012 AGENDA

12:30 PM Registration

1:00 Welcome and Introduction of Keynote Speaker

1:30 Keynote Speaker: A Review of the Principles and Empirics of the Environmental Health Risks to Children

David E. Adelman, JD, PhD, Associate Professor of Law, Harry Reasoner Regents Chair in Law, School of Law, The University of Texas at Austin.

3:00 BREAK

3:15 Visualizing Healthy Schools: Identifying Assets and Needs, and Opportunities for Collaborative Change

Stephen Pont, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics; Medical Director, Austin ISD Student Health Services; Medical Director, Texas Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity; Children’s Optimal Health, Technical Advisory Committee.

Tracy Lunoff, M.Ed.
Coordinator of Health Services, Austin ISD, District Liaison to the Student Health Advisory Council; Co-Chair, Austin ISD Environmental Stewardship Committee.

4:45 Closing

Vincent Torres, MSE, PE, MAC, CEHI Board Member, 2012 Scientific Symposium Board Chair

5:00 Adjourn

Friday, October 26, 2012 AGENDA

8:00 Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:30 AM Welcome and Charge

Sister Teresa George, D.C., President and Chief Operating Officer,
Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas

Fernando Guerra, MD, MPH, CEHI Board Chair

Vincent Torres, MSE, PE, MAC, CEHI Board Member
2012 Scientific Symposium Board Chair

9:00 Keynote Speaker: Children’s Health–Where They Live, Learn, and Play
PDF not available.

Shale L. Wong, MD, MSPH. Pediatrician and Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine; Director of Medical Student Education in Pediatrics; Director of Mentored Scholarship and Co-Director of Leadership, Education, Advocacy, Development and Scholarship at the University of Colorado, Children’s Medical Center.

10:00 Indoor Air Quality in Schools: Existing and Emerging Knowledge

Richard Corsi, PhD, PE – ECH Bantel Professor for Professional Practice. Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin.

11:00 BREAK

11:15 Improving Student Health and Academic Performance: A Model for Sound Policy and Proven Practice

Diane Rhodes, RRT, AE-C, RCP – Director of the Department of Environmental Health, North East Independent School District, San Antonio, Texas.

12:15 LUNCH

Luncheon Speaker: The Incomparable Renegade Lunch Lady Chef Ann Cooper

Becoming Change Agents for Improving Access to and Consumption of Healthy, Safe, and Affordable Food for Children and Families

1:45 Creating Comprehensive Model Coalitions and State Policies

Claire L. Barnett, MBA – Executive Director, Healthy Schools Network, and Coordinator, Coalition for Healthier Schools.

2:45 Connecting the Science of Human Development and Architecture for
Healthy Early-Learning Environments

Fernando A. Guerra, MD, MPH – Former Director of Health, San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, Pediatrician and Public Health Consultant,  Chair, Children’s Environmental Health Institute Board of Directors.

Mike Wells, AIA, NCARB – Principal at William Michael Wells, AIA Architect and serves as the Vice Chair of the CEHI Board of Directors.

3:45 BREAK

4:00 Student Health and Obesity Prevention Programs Backed by Science

Steven Kelder, PhD, MPH – Co-Director in the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Advancement of Healthy Living, Professor in the Division of Epidemiology, Beth Toby Grossman Professor in Spirituality and Healing at the UT School of Public Health, Austin Regional Campus.

Andrew E. Springer,DrPH, Assistant Professor of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences at the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living at the University of Texas School of Public Health-Austin; member of the Practice Council of the University of Texas School of Public Health and serves on the Austin Independent School District School Health Advisory Council.

5:00 Closing Remarks

Vincent Torres, MSE, PE, MAC, CEHI Board Member, 2012 Scientific Symposium Board Chair

5:30 Adjourn

SPEAKERS:

Full Speaker Biographies

Keynote Speakers:

David E. Adelman, JD, PhD
Dr. Adelman, Associate Professor of Law, Harry Reasoner Regents Chair in Law, at the School of Law, The University of Texas at Austin. Professor Adelman is an expert in the area of environmental law and policy. In addition to a law degree from Stanford Law School, he holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from Stanford University. His research focuses on the many interfaces between law and science. He served as a senior staff attorney and scientist in the public health programs of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Professor Adelman has authored numerous legal and scientific articles, including Harmonizing Methods of Scientific Inference with the Precautionary Principle: Opportunities and Constraints.

Shale L. Wong, MD, MSPH
Dr. Wong is a Pediatrician and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine; Director of Medical Student Education in Pediatrics; Director of Mentored Scholarship and Co-Director of Leadership, Education, Advocacy, Development and Scholarship at the University of Colorado, Children’s Medical Center. Dr. Wong was the recipient of the 2009-2010 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy fellowship assigned to the Office of First Lady Michelle Obama for the “Let’s Move Project.”

Speakers

Claire Barnett, MBA – Executive Director, Healthy Schools Network, and Coordinator, Coalition for Healthier Schools.

Ms. Barnett, the Executive Director, Healthy Network, Inc., and Coordinator, Coalition for Healthier School is a recognized expert in environmental school health reform. She brought 25 years of leadership experience to founding the Healthy Schools Network (HSN). HSN is renowned nationally for its leadership in environmental health, research, education, and advocacy not for profit organization.

Chef Ann Cooper – Celebrated author, chef, educator, and enduring advocate for better food for all children.

In a nation where children are born with shorter estimated life expectancies than their parents because of diet-related illness, Chef Ann is a relentless voice of reform by focusing on the links between food, family, farming and children’s health and wellness. View some of her work at https://www.thelunchbox.org.

Richard L. Corsi, PhD, PE – ECH Bantel Professor for Professional Practice. Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Corsi is an internationally distinguished researcher in indoor air quality, including sources and control of indoor air pollution and human exposure to indoor toxins.

Fernando A. Guerra, MD, MPH – Former Director of Health, San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, Pediatrician and Public Health Consultant, Chair, Children’s Environmental Health Institute Board of Directors.

Dr. Guerra’s professional career reflects a longstanding interest and involvement in pediatric care, public health and health policy. He has been active with local, regional and national forums with responsibilities including research, program and policy development, legislative issues and health planning.

Steven Kelder, PhD, MPH – Co-Director in the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Advancement of Healthy Living, Professor in the Division of Epidemiology, Beth Toby Grossman Professor in Spirituality and Healing at the UT School of Public Health, Austin Regional Campus.

Dr. Kelder serves as the Principal Investigator of CATCH (Coordinated Approach To Child Health), a research program that guides elementary schools, families, and children in the process of being healthy.

Tracy Lunoff, MEd – Ms. Lunoff is Coordinator of Health Services, Austin ISD and District Liaison to the School Health Advisory Council. Primary program areas under her direction include Student Health Services, Coordinated School Health K-8, Health Education K-12, Staff Wellness and Nutrition Policy.

Andrew Springer, DrPH, Assistant Professor of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences at the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living at the University of Texas School of Public Health-Austin. Dr. Springer’s research interests center on the promotion of child and adolescent health in the U.S. and Latin America. Dr. Springer has served as the President of the Austin Chapter of Amigos de las Americas and on the advisory board for the Amigos de las Americas International Board Program Committee; the Practice Council of the University of Texas School of PublicHealth; the Austin Independent School District School Health Advisory Council; and the Health and Quality of Life (“Salud y Calidad de Vida”) research group at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Cali in Cali, Colombia.
Stephen Pont, MD, MPH, FAAP – Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas. Medical Director, Texas Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity. Medical Director, Austin Independent School District Student Health Services. UT Southwestern, Austin, Department of Pediatrics.

Dr. Pont is a general pediatrician and is the medical director for the Texas Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity. He also serves as the medical director for Austin Independent School District’s Student Health Services, whose Dell Children’s employed staff provides student health services for the district’s nearly 90,000 students and 110 campuses. Dr. Pont is a member and regular attendee of AISD’s School Health Advisory Council. He is a member of the Technical Advisory Committee for the Children’s Optimal Health Advisory Committee.

Diane Rhodes, RRT, AE-C, RCP – Director of the Department of Environmental Health, North East Independent School District, San Antonio, Texas.

Ms. Rhodes is a Certified Asthma Educator and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) award winner. Ms. Rhodes was instrumental in the development of NEISD’s program to maintain healthy school environments and incorporate a disease management to ensure the health of all students.

Vincent Torres, MSE, PE, MAC, CEHI Board Member, 2012 Scientific Symposium Board Chair

Mr. Torres is the Associate Director of the Center for Energy & Environmental Resources at The University of Texas at Austin. He is a registered professional engineer in Texas with research interests in energy and fluid systems focusing on air quality. Mr. Torres was elected to the Austin ISD Board of Trustees in 2006 and re-elected in 2010. He currently serves as the Vice President of the Austin ISD Board of Trustees and is an active volunteer for organizations at the community and the state level.

Mike Wells, AIA, NCARB – Principal at William Michael Wells, AIA Architect and serves as the Vice Chair of the CEHI Board of Directors.

Mr. Wells has been responsible for the design of more than one hundred child development centers for children in 24 states. Mr. Wells has been a frequent speaker and advocate for child-sensitive design, including workshops presented for the National Coalition for Campus Children’s Centers, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Bright Horizons Family Solutions, the National Head Start Association, the General Services Administration and components of the American Institute of Architects, and has served as guest faculty for the Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Child Care Design Institute.

OBJECTIVES

SYMPOSIUM LEARNING OBJECTIVES – DAY 1 – Thursday

David E. Adelman, JD, PhD:
A Review of the Principles and Empirics of the
Environmental Health Risks to Children

• Examine inequities in exposures of minority and low-income children in the U.S. to environmental pollutants.
• Review the current state of U.S. laws regulating exposures to toxic substances (e.g., the Toxic Substances Control Act, Clean Air Act), as well as to compare U.S. laws to recent developments in the European Union under Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) act.
• Provide an overview of the major sources of air pollutants and primary risk drivers across the U.S., with a particular emphasis on geographic variations across the country and disparities between urban and rural settings.

Visualizing Healthy Schools: Identifying Assets and Needs, 
and Opportunities for Collaborative Change

Stephen Pont, MD, MPH

• Recognize the connection between the environment and neurological and developmental disabilities, asthma, obesity, diabetes and other related health concerns contributing to an increase in learning and behavioral problems, poor academic performance and increased absentee rates in schools.
• Summarize why school administrators and policymakers should consider environmental exposure health risks to children when developing and adopting policies to maintain facilities.

 Tracy Lunoff, Med

• Describe the collaborative approach Austin Independent School District (AISD) uses between Health Services, Housekeeping and the Facilities Department to recognize, prevent, and manage environmental risk exposures to students and staff.
• Relate the purpose, objectives and examples of initiatives sponsored by members of the Austin ISD Student Health Advisory Committee to address and prevent environmental health Issues to students.
• Summarize how Austin ISD Health Services uses an annual Environment of Care Survey to assess what campus principals have done to prevent and/or manage environmental risks to students and staff.

Shared Objective

• Relate how the Austin Independent School District, Student Health Services used GIS mapping through a partnership with Children¹s Optimal Health to raise awareness about childhood obesity and why the Housing Authority of the City of Austin chose to conduct an academic, absenteeism, and fitness survey of AISD students.

 

SYMPOSIUM LEARNING OBJECTIVES – DAY 2 – Friday

Shale Wong, MD, MSPH:
A Perspective on Environmental Health and
Healthy Children and Communities

• Assess the balance between societal and governmental responsibilities when promoting healthy school environments.
• Recognize policy opportunities and approaches that educational institutions, government agencies, health organizations, public interest groups, elected officials, and the general public may consider to elevate children’s environmental health among competing issues and resources.
• Describe how health initiatives and prevention programs in schools benefit from engagement of public-private partnerships.

Richard L. Corsi, PhD, PE:
Indoor Air Quality in Schools: Existing and Emerging Knowledge

• Explain why indoor air quality in schools is important.
• Describe major indoor air pollutants in schools and their sources, including emerging pollutants and those that are often not given sufficient consideration in school environments.
• Explain the importance of several major factors on indoor air quality in schools, including proper ventilation and control of relative humidity.
• Describe children’s exposure to harmful pollutants derived from indoor chemistry in schools, and important pollution sources that cause such chemistry (including children themselves and what they bring to school with them).
• Provide examples of how green products and building materials are not always healthy.
• Describe methods for reducing children’s exposure to harmful pollutants in schools.
• Explain why administrators must consider environmental health risk exposures to children when planning, renovating and building the school facilities.

Diane Rhodes, RRT, AE-C, RCP:
Improving Student Health and Academic Performance:
A Model for Sound Policy and Proven Practice

• Describe the importance of maintaining a healthy environment and incorporating a disease management program as it relates to school funding and productivity of student’s capacity to learn.
• Describe how the North East ISD in San Antonio, Texas implemented an Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Assessment program to measure acceptable classroom environments throughout the district.
• Relate an effective approach for conducting IAQ investigations whenever building occupants express concerns about airborne contaminants.
• Access model programs and the resources necessary to conduct an objective assessment of environmentally triggered respiratory health risks to students.
• Evaluate best practices used for Asthma Management /IAQ and the measured outcomes achieved.

Chef Ann Cooper:
Becoming Change Agents for Improving Access to and Consumption of
Healthy, Safe, and Affordable Food for Children and Families

• Reflect on why the prevalence of obesity is so high that it may reduce the life expectancy of today’s generation of children and diminish the overall quality of their lives.
• Examine the relationship between food, politics and how seemingly unrelated economic, political and social issues play a significant role in hunger, childhood obesity and rising food prices.
• Explain how the Lunch Box – a web portal provides free and accessible tools, recipes and community connections to support school food reform.
• Relate why applying for a school salad bar is one of the fastest ways to create access to fresh food for all students purchasing a reimbursable meal.
• Access a sustainable model for schools nationwide to transition any processed food based K-12 school meal program to a whole foods environment where food is procured regionally and prepared from scratch.

Claire L. Barnett, MBA:
Creating Comprehensive Model Coalitions and State Policies

• Examine issues at the intersection of the school environment and the alarming increase of children enrolled in schools with neurological/developmental disabilities, asthma, obesity, and diabetes, the rise in learning and behavioral problems, increased absentee rates in schools and the recruitment, retention and productivity of school personnel.
• Describe the urgent need to implement polices for the removal of environmental contaminants from school environments and guidelines for purchasing housekeeping products.
• Relate to how architects, builders and school administrators can prevent health risks to children by incorporating child-sensitive standards for school design, construction, and siting for school facilities.
• Access model programs, resources and assistance for supporting healthy school environments through the Healthy Kids/Healthy Schools Clearinghouse.
• Discuss the need for cross-discipline actions between health professionals, academicians, the research community and parents of health-impacted children to leverage efforts to protect the health of students.
• Explain how the Coalition for Healthier Schools provides the platform and a forum for promoting environmental health at school with conference calls and annual meetings between local, state and national partner organizations.

 Student Health and Obesity Prevention Programs Backed by Science
CATCH  (Coordinated Approach To Child Health)
Steven Kelder, PhD, MPH and Andrew E. Springer, DrPH

• Recognize why the CATCH project, which is approved by the Texas Education Agency, has received state, national, and international recognition for being one of the most comprehensive and ambitious approaches to targeting physical education, food services, classroom curriculum, and families through a coordinated school health program.
• Examine why the largest randomized controlled trial based in elementary schools that has ever been conducted in the United States, CATCH, shows evidence of long-term program effects for decreasing fat consumption and increasing physical activity among children and adolescents.
• Describe how CATCH Eat Smart Cafeteria, a Nutrition Education Venue, provides children with tasty meals that are lower in fat and saturated fat, maintains required levels of essential nutrients, coordinate healthy nutrition messages with other areas of the school and guides the entire campus towards creating a healthy school environment.
• Relate how the CATCH project also includes a CATCH Child Health Consortium composed of school leaders, Parent-Teacher Association representatives, CATCH champions, business leaders, Parks and Recreation representatives and other influential stakeholders that will extend the reach of CATCH into the community.

 

ACCREDITATION and CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDITS

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education through the joint sponsorship of Texas Medical Association and Children’s Environmental Health Institute, Inc. Texas Medical Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Texas Medical Association designates this educational activity for a maximum of 10.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™.

Texas Medical Association designates the following presentation in medical ethics and/or professional responsibility: A Review of the Principles and Empirics of the Environmental Health Risks to Children by David E. Adelman, JD, PhD, Associate Professor of Law, Harry Reasoner Regents Chair in Law, School of Law, The University of Texas at Austin (1.50 credits).

–  Nursing contact hours have been applied for through the Texas Nurses Association, an accredited approver of continuing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

–  CEHI has been approved by the Texas Education Agency as a Continuing Professional Education Provider.

SPONSORSHIP

Whole Kids Foundation

Whole Foods Market

Thomas J. Reinhart Foundation

Texas A&M System Health Science Center, School of Rural Public Health, A&M University, College Station

Southwest Center for Pediatric Environmental Health

 Saint Susie Foundation

St. David’s Foundation

EnvirOx

 

SYLLABUS

Program Syllabus

 

SYMPOSIUM ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Fernando Guerra, MD, MPH, Former Director of Public Health, San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, Health Consultant, Pediatrician and Chair of the CEHI Board of Directors.

Kate Stalzer, BSN, RN, Quality Control Specialist, Blue Cross Blue Shield of TX, CEHI Board Secretary

David A. Wolf, BSEE, MD, NASA Astronaut, CEHI Board Member

Janie Fields, MPA, CEHI Executive Director

Maureen Britton, MA, Executive Director, Children’s Optimal Health

Jules Reinhart Elkins, PhD, Department of Geography and the Environment, The University of Texas

Susanna Finnell, PhD, Chair, Picture the Children, Children and Their Food Photo Essay

Stephen Pont, MD, MPH, FAAP – Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas. Medical Director, Texas Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity. Medical Director, Austin Independent School District Student Health Services. UT Southwestern, Austin, Department of Pediatrics.