Media contact: Anne DeLotto Baier, USF Health Sciences Public Affairs, (813)974-3300 or cell (813)598-0643, or abaier@hsc.usf.edu
USF EnviroVan to help DeSoto County health officials monitor
drinking water safety following Hurricane Charley
Tampa, FL (Aug. 24, 2004) -- The University of South Florida College of Public Health has dispatched its mobile environmental health laboratory, EnviroVan, to DeSoto County to help local public health officials assess and monitor drinking water for contamination following Hurricane Charley.
The van, operating out of the incident command center at the Sarasota County Department of Health's Division of Environmental Health, will be based beginning today and all this week at the DeSoto County Health Department in Arcadia. Over the next month, the van may rotate to hurricane-affected areas outside DeSoto County, particularly where wells are not functioning due to loss of power. The mobile lab will be staffed by USF public health faculty and graduate students supervised by Heidi Kay, PhD, an assistant professor in the USF Department of Global Health, and Homer Rice, director of environmental health in Sarasota County.
"One of the biggest public health concerns following disasters like hurricanes is the lack of safe drinking water, which typically results in a greater rate of diarrheal disease in the affected regions," said Thomas J. Mason, PhD, professor of epidemiology and director of the Global Center for Disaster Management and Humanitarian Action at USF. "This is an opportunity to share our resources with communities in need and for our students to experience the real-world application of environmental health principles. As the state's only college of public health, we are committed to responding wherever we are needed."
The EnviroVan, a shuttle bus customized by USF engineering students, is equipped with state-of-the-art instruments for field testing, analysis, research and hands-on training. Its power is supplied by a self-contained diesel generator.
This summer the mobile laboratory was brought to eight Tampa Bay area high schools, where science students toured the van and conducted experiments to learn about water quality, toxicology and hazardous materials.
EnviroVan is supported by an Innovations in Teaching and Technology Congressional Award.
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The University of South Florida College of Public Health at the USF Health Sciences Center is the only accredited college of public health in Florida and one of only 34 accredited public health programs nationwide. A leader in health promotion, the College prepares tomorrow's public health professionals to be vital stewards of the public's health and safety. With $25 million in grants and contracts in 2003-04, the College is home to five federally funded Centers of Excellence. Its results-oriented, population-based research helps to promote health and prevent disease across the life span in Florida and the global community by targeting a spectrum of groups to influence behavior toward healthy choices. It also performs extensive workforce re-training for topics ranging from OSHA standards to training first responders in biological defense; disaster management and humanitarian assistance to public health leadership.