Message from
Sandra Long-NEHA Region V VP
Winter 2010 Report
Conference
News
The 2010 NEHA Annual Educational Conference and Exhibit will be held
June 6 – 9, 2010 in beautiful Albuquerque, New Mexico. EPA Administrator,
Lisa P Jackson, has been invited as the keynote speaker for the 74th
Annual Educational Conference.
Her presentation will focus on emerging public policy in regards to
environmental health concerns. She will also be speaking on the relationship
between a healthy environment and human health and the environmental
health profession’s role in securing a health environment/health
people world.
I look forward to an excellent representation of Region 5.
The NEHA AEC & Exhibition and ROI
For the first time, NEHA will be orienting its conference along return
on investment (ROI) principles. What does this mean to you and your
organization? It means that you will be able to return to your workplace
after the conference with the ability to implement program improvements
and help create bottom line results for your organization. These results
will more than pay for the investment made for you to attend the NEHA
AEC & Exhibition. By orienting the conference along ROI principles,
NEHA is even more committed to providing conference attendees with
an educational experience that will both advance the proficiency of
the environmental health profession AND help create bottom-line improvements
for your organization.
For additional information on ROI visit www.neha.org/2010aec/RIO/tabid/93/Default.sapx
BREAKING
NEWS: AEC SCHOLARSHIPS
If you have not heard the good news, NEHA was recently awarded funding
from FDA to provide approximately 30 full-conference registration
scholarships for food safety professionals and students to attend
the 2010 AEC & Exhibition in Albuquerque, NM.
— Please note that the FDA scholarships are for conference registration
costs only and DO NOT include travel. If you meet the eligibility
requirements, please send an email addressing how you meet them along
with documentation of your food safety experience to vdearman@neha.org
no later than Monday, April 26.
— Applicant submissions will be reviewed on a first-come, first-served
basis. If you are selected to receive a scholarship, then you will
be emailed a special conference registration form.
— If you are not selected to receive a scholarship, then you
also have the opportunity to volunteer at the AEC & Exhibition.
Volunteers who work a minimum of four hours receive four hours of
free education. And volunteers can work more hours to receive more
free education hours. Please contact Cindy Dimmit for more information
at cdimmitt@neha.org or at
303-756-9090, ext. 343.
HACCP
Method for Retail Food Operations Online Course
This new course is now available online! Learn how to implement the
core HACCP program through identifying hazards, establishing standard
operating procedures, developing prerequisite programs, and setting
your critical control points. You will also learn about documenting
and verifying to ensure that HACCP principles are being followed as
planned. The course will also teach you the ideology behind the Process
Approach to the HACCP method, which is specifically designed for the
dynamics of retail food operation. With this knowledge, you will learn
to group products and menus based on the number of times they pass
through the temperature danger zone. To find out more about the NEHA
HACCP online course, go to www.nehahaccp.org.
FDA
SCHOLARSHIP ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS 2010 NEHA AEC & EXHIBITION
- Must demonstrate how you meet the below eligibility requirements
to be considered for an AEC & Exhibition full-conference registration
scholarship:
- 1. Must be a/an: food safety professional, environmental health
professional working in food safety, other professional working in
food safety, or undergraduate/graduate student working or taking classes
in food safety.
- 2. Provide a job description, resume, CV, and/or class description
or syllabus that includes current food safety experience. U.S. government
employees are not eligible.
- 3. Would not be able to attend the AEC & Exhibition without
this scholarship (i.e., not already registered for the AEC, budget
constraints, etc.).
- 4. Scholarships DO NOT include travel, lodging, and other travel-related
expenses. And already have travel, lodging, and other travel-related
expenses planned, covered, and approved by you, your employer, and/or
other sources before applying for this scholarship.
- 5. Previous AEC & Exhibition scholarship recipients (from FDA,
Decade, or another source) are NOT eligible to receive another scholarship
for at least THREE AECs. Example: if you were awarded a scholarship
for the 2008 AEC, then you are not eligible to receive another scholarship
until the 2012 AEC.
- 6. Previous AEC & Exhibition scholarship applicants that were
approved to receive a scholarship, but canceled and did not attend,
will need to re-apply for this AEC & Exhibition scholarship opportunity.
- 7. Preference is given to first-time attendees who plan to attend
the full conference. If you have attended an AEC & Exhibition,
you are not automatically ineligible, but first-time attendees have
priority.
- 8. Preference is given to local and state public employees, non-profit
employees, undergraduate students, and international applicants.
2010
Second Vice President Election
The spring ballots have been mailed for the 2nd Vice President Election.
Candidates for the position are: Alicia Enriquez from California and
Michéle Samarya-Timm from New Jersey. Please see the March
2010 Journal of Environmental Health for candidate profiles on each.
Please remember to mail back your ballot.
Upcoming
Training Opportunities
Texas Environmental Health Association AEC is October 13 - 15, 2010
in Austin, Texas.
Oklahoma Society of Environmental Health Professionals AEC will be
held in October 2010. For information contact Harold Cully, email:
Harold. Cully2@ihs.gov
NEHA e-Learning offers education and training 24/7. Continuing education
courses completed through NEHA e-Learning will be automatically added
to your account - no additional paperwork or submission forms to fill
out!
Important
Note for NEHA Members:
NEHA recognizes the need for continuing education and communication
in the profession. NEHA members who are laid-off or become un-employed
will be offered a one year membership at no cost. This will allow
NEHA members continued access to the free online education and other
membership services. Additional information can be found on the NEHA
website.
Have
You Taken Advantage of the New FedEx Benefit Yet?
Whether you’re looking for office and document support, or reliable
and cost-effective shipping, you can count on FedEx and FedEx Office
to deliver. NEHA members can now save up to 26% on select FedEx®
shipping and business services. There are no costs and no minimum
shipping, copy, or print requirements to take advantage of this great
member benefit. For more information or to enroll in this program,
please visit the Members Only web site to retrieve a pass code and
program administration information.
Wyoming
Legislation
Friday, Feb 12, 2010, NEHA received a call from a Wyoming EH professional
who asked NEHA to respond to the attached pending legislation (HB0054).
The legislation, introduced by a legislature for personal reasons,
essentially bans the inspection of food for Farmer's markets, road-side
food stands, and such. The sponsor is presenting it as a benign and
quaint allowance for simple foods, but it is written so broadly as
to allow for sales of anything, i.e., raw milk, home-butchered meats,
home-canned foods, etc. The bill passed the House with 45 ayes to
9 nays. It then went before the Wyoming Senate.
The NEHA staff and President Wellford Roberts quickly responded to
this issue. In the response, NEHA reinforced the need to enforce environmental
health practices that protect public health. It also stressed the
belief in the necessity of food safety education. NEHA's response
did not address government regulations, which sometimes can be viewed
as a political issue itself. By the end of the day, NEHA's response
was e-mailed to the two legislatures and sent overnight to the Wyoming
Governor.
On Feb. 25, 2010 the cooler and smarter heads in the Senate Ag Committee
killed House Bill 54. They tried a few times to offer amendments that
could fix the bill but in the end found the bill to be too flawed
to fix. The committee did not have a second to take a vote.
On
Feb. 26, 2010 - Ding Dong, The Witch is dead...
Our
Staff Reporter Wants to Hear From You!
What’s going on in environmental health in your neck of the woods?
Have you or your department faced any important challenges recently?
Have you been working on an interesting project, or have you found
a novel solution to a problem? Maybe you know an environmental health
hero whose story ought to be told? Maybe you have some news about
how environmental health is faring economically and politically in
your area?
Please let us know.
We want your association’s flagship publication, the Journal
of Environmental Health, to tell your stories. And for that we need
you. Our staff reporter, Rebecca Berg, is always looking for news
from the field. We can’t promise to turn every tip into a story,
but we want to hear all your thoughts and suggestions, and will always
read them with interest. Don’t be shy! Send an e-mail!
