News Release

Public Health Grand Rounds features CDC’s Healthy Communities initiative

CHAPEL HILL – A Public Health Grand Rounds scheduled for broadcast on Friday (May 11) will focus on a small town in Florida and the collaborative efforts of its residents to address public health issues in their community.

Co-sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health, the Grand Rounds program will be broadcast at health-related sites in 48 states and 10 countries from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. ET. 

On the UNC campus, it will be shown in the Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation Auditorium of the School of Public Health’s Michael Hooker Research Center.  Information about attending the program or viewing online can be found at the Grand Rounds Web site, www.publichealthgrandrounds.unc.edu.

The event is part of a series of Grand Rounds broadcasts devoted to the CDC’s four health protection goals: Healthy People in Every Stage of Life; Healthy People in Healthy Places; People Prepared for Emerging Health Threats; and Healthy People in a Healthy World. The Healthy Places goals include initiatives for creating healthier environments in homes, schools, workplaces, health care settings, during travel and recreation and in the community at large.

Using a health assessment tool called PACE-EH (Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health), the town of Wabasso, Fla. (population 918), was able to identify and assess local health concerns including air and water quality, injury prevention and the promotion of physical activity as part of the community at large initiative. 

The successful use of PACE-EH and the resulting positive changes in Wabasso are described in the program. Dr. Edward L. Baker, professor of health policy and administration and director of the North Carolina Institute for Public Health, will moderate the event. 

Joining Baker as panelists discussing the Healthy Communities initiative will be Dr. Bill Roper, dean of the UNC School of Medicine and chief executive officer of UNC Health Care; Dr. Stephanie Bailey, chief of public health practice at CDC;  Dr. Nisha Botchwey, assistant professor of urban and environmental planning, University of Virginia School of Architecture; Dr. Sharunda Buchanan, director of the division of emergency environmental health services at the CDC’s National Center of Environmental Health; Susan Sutherland, assessment coordinator for environmental health at the Delaware County, Ohio, General Health District; and Chris Kochtitzky, Healthy Communities team leader at CDC.

There is no charge for the satellite or Web program, but online registration is requested.

Public Health Grand Rounds is a series of satellite broadcasts and webcasts presenting real-world case studies on public health issues. Its purpose is to promote a leadership-level, professional dialogue on emerging, news-breaking issues of strategic significance.

Participants watch and take part in the programs at convenient viewing locations or their own desktops, with little or no travel and minimal time away from work.

Public Health Grand Rounds Web site: http://www.publichealthgrand rounds.unc.edu

Note: For more information, contact Lisa Morris, (919) 843-9621 or lamorris@email.unc.edu

School of Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, (919) 966-7467 or rdubose@email.unc.edu