The San Francisco Department
of Public Health website offers much information regarding how the city is
protecting and promoting the health of all San Franciscans. The services
mentioned on the website that I would consider environmental health services include:
Disease prevention, maternal, child & adolescent health, and primary
care. Though, I would say in a way each
of the remaining services are all related to environmental health in one way or
another like dental services are not considered environmental services but chemicals
like fluoride have an impact on dental health and should be discussed with
dentists when assessing services. I mentioned disease prevention and primary
care as an environmental health service because we need to be aware of
chemicals we are being exposed to in our environment that may cause diseases
and get tested to prevent diseases. Physicians also need to be aware of
symptoms and how they are associated with toxic chemical exposure and be proactive
in treatment and how to minimize exposure.
The San Francisco environment site,
SF Environment, has a mission to provide solutions that advance climate
protection and enhance quality of life for all San Franciscans. This department
focuses on multiple topics to support environmental health including: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Eco Products and Services, Energy,
Environmental Justice, Green Building, Green Business Program, School Education
Program, Toxics Reduction, Transportation, Urban Forestry and Urban
Agriculture, Zero Waste. There is
also a great link on this page that lists toxics that we may be exposed to at
home and work and how we can reduce exposure to harmful chemicals.
Hi Marisa,
ReplyDeleteIt's great to see that San Francisco provides all these services to their residents. I think SF is on of the cities pioneering towards change on a big scale. And going back to primary care, I think you make a valid point as it relates back to obesogens which we learned last week.
Hi Marisa,
ReplyDeleteWe are very lucky to live in a place to that has so many resources for promoting health in San Francisco. It was very interesting to read about your experience with dental care and that it isn't considered environmental health even though it might be linked to lung cancer.
Thank you for sharing,
Kera