The New Jersey Environmental Health Association (NJEHA), affiliate of the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA), has an exciting year ahead. NEHA will be holding its Annual Educational Conference in New Jersey for the first time! Mark your calendars and plan to attend Atlantic City June 18-21, 2007 for the conference. The national conference is jam packed with learning opportunities, ranging from classroom discussion to sessions addressing how environmental health issues are dealt with in other states. Please visit the National Environmental Health Associations website at www.neha.org for additional information. There will be many opportunities to participate in the conference, so please consider being a volunteer. The executive counsel would like a good show of support from New Jersey’s expert environmental and public health professionals so we will be offering scholarships to help members attend. Look for the applications on our website very soon.
After many years of struggling New Jersey finally has an updated Retail Food Code, Chapter 24.The new code is modeled after the FDA Food Code, so we are in for a whole new learning curve with the changes now facing us. I know when I graduated the Environmental and Public Health Law Course at Rutgers; I memorized all the citations from Chapter 12. It’s going to be a challenge for many of us to change these old habits, but the public health and scientific advancements in Chapter 24 makes it all worth it! The State will be holding its second Retail Food Summit on March 8, 2007 to impart many of the changes we will need to be well versed in. More information on the Summit can be found in the newsletter.
One of my goals as president is to promote a better image of public health to those outside our profession. I believe we are composed of many talented, highly educated professionals who serve a vital function to our communities. The general public needs to be aware of what we do; the invisible guardians who protect the public from disease, environmental threats, bioterrorism, food safety and security.
Many of the other public health associations throughout the state have been thinking along the same lines. A newly formed group of public health association presidents has been gathered (thanks to Kevin Sumner) and we met once. One of the group’s goals is to find ONE unified voice for public health throughout the state. As part of this new mission, we would like to have two representatives from each public health association become affiliated with this new outreach. If you already are a member of another public health association, or just have interest in becoming a liaison, please let me know. The job would entail attending the associations meetings, giving a short update on what our association is doing, and reporting back to the NJEHA executive counsel.
I look forward to working with all of you throughout the next two years. Please always feel free to reach out for me if there is anything the executive counsel can do for you or if you have some ideas you’d like us to consider implementing.
Wishing each and every one of you a Happy and Health New Year!
