Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units (PEHSU)

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Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) in collaboration with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has maintained a long-standing relationship in the development and advancement of the Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) Program, through ongoing cooperative agreements initiated by ATSDR. The PEHSU serves health professionals, community organizations, governmental officials, federal staff, child-care providers, parents, and others having interest in environmental conditions that influence reproductive and pediatric health. Primary focuses of the PEHSU are to: (1) Build the capacity of primary care clinicians to recognize environmental exposure risks, provide risk reduction counseling, and deliver patient care to those at risk of or harm from acute or chronic exposures to hazardous substances in the environment. (2) Integrate environmental health content, placing emphasis on hazardous substances in the environment and related health effects, into pre-service clinical (i.e., medical, nursing, and allied health) course work; and primary care residency programs (i.e., clinicians in pediatrics, family medicine, and obstetrics and gynecology). (3) Increase patient and population awareness of environmental exposure risks and ways to reduce those risks. (4) Provide education and consultative services to community members, clinicians, state and local health departments, appropriate federal programs, and others involved in protecting children and couples of reproductive age from environmental threats. (5) Provide educational and consultative assistance in communities where ATSDR and/or Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are addressing environmental contamination.

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