Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium

Alaska’s AirInside and Out

Presented by: Josh LilesAsst. Environmental Health ConsultantEnvironmental Health Support

Road Map• Introduction to ANTHC• ANTHC’s Tribal Air Program • ANTHC’s Healthy Homes

Program

Introduction to ANTHC

• Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium

Wellness

Alaska Native Medical Center

Business

Environmental Health, Engineering & Construction

Road Map• Introduction to ANTHC• ANTHC’s Tribal Air Program• ANTHC’s Healthy Homes

Program

We offer assistance to Alaskan Tribes for both indoor and outdoor air quality projects.

Assistance we offer:• Education and Outreach• Answer questions over the phone• Handouts, Assessment Kits

• Capacity Building• Training on equipment • Phase 1 air assessment

• Monitoring• Indoor Air Quality• Burning• Road Dust

• Cooperative agreements• Mini-Grants

• Loaner Equipment• Technical support

Tribal Air Quality Cooperative Agreements(Mini-Grants)

• 3,000-10,000 grants designed to help communities deal with air quality issues

• Funded through ANTHC’s CAA 103 Grant• Administered by ANTHC-EHS• Assistance with:

• Program Development• Technical support and training• Loaner equipment

• Competitive Funding opportunity • 3-5 projects

Past Mini-Grant Projects• From 2012-2014 the Air Quality Program has funded 12

projects• Past projects include:• Outdoor air

• Road dust in several villages (#1 problem we currently face)• Indoor air

• Radon• Wood stove change out• Healthy homes

Road Map• Introduction to ANTHC• ANTHC’s Tribal Air Program• ANTHC’s Healthy Homes

Program

ANTHC’s Healthy Homes Program

• ANTHC Environmental Health Support received a call from a pulmonologist to see if there could be a link between poor indoor air quality and children's LRTI

How we got started?

Respiratory Health in Alaska

•Alaska Native children have some of the highest rates of respiratory illness ever documented• Causes• Poor indoor air quality• Lack of in-home piped water services

Steps

• Identify homes with children that have chronic respiratory illness– Children 1-12 yrs. with 4 or more clinic visits OR 1

respiratory hospitalization in the previous year• Assess the home• Modify the home to improve air quality • In home air monitoring • Pre-modification• Post-modification• 1 yr. post modification

• Promote behavior changes

Challenges we face in the project

• Coordination• On many different levels

• Weather• Transportation• Time

Air Sampling

PM2.5

(TSI DustTrak II)

VOC’s CO2, Temperature, Relative Humidity (Extech CO210)

CO (Lascar)

Summary of Air Quality Results

• CO2 (-22%)• VOCs (-77.5%)• PM2.5 (-7.7%)• Pm2.5 excluding Home #11

(-31.9%)

Naaman Tomaganuk,Housing Crew Member

Limitations for

Health Data Results(for completed 30 homes)

• Health data is only from residents reported lung health questionnaires of 2 week intervals• Administered at initial contact, immediately before home

modifications, 2 weeks, 3 months, & 1 year after home modifications

• Health data will be collected from chart reviews for clinic visits and hospitalizations• Administered 1 year before and 1 year after home

modifications• School absences data will come from questionnaires and will not be

verified through school records

Preliminary Results

• Observed Changes (30 homes):– Cold or Runny Nose• (-23.0%)

– School absence from breathing problems• (-27.3%)

– Clinic visits for respiratory• (18 before, 9 after)

– Hospitalization for respiratory• (7 before, 0 after)

Wrap up and final thoughts• Hopefully you were able to understand and follow the story• Hopefully our story will help generate some ideas to help you

seek out unique and innovative ways to help solve issues.• Build partnerships

The End

Questions/Comments?

What are the 7 Principles?

1. Contaminant-Free2. Ventilated3. Dry4. Safe5. Maintained6. Clean7. Pest-Free

What can we change?

What can we change?

What can we change?

What can we change?

What can we change?