ANTHC Environmental Health receives nation’s top air quality award
April 24, 2015Categories: Healthy Homes and Communities
ANTHC’s Environmental Health Consultation program has been selected to receive the EPA’s 2015 Clean Air Excellence – Gregg Cooke Visionary Program Award. The award is widely considered the nation’s top honor for programs and organizations making progress to achieve clean air. The award was presented this week during a ceremony on April 21 in Washington, DC. The awardee must directly reduce pollutant emissions, demonstrate innovation, offer sustainable outcomes, and provide a model for others to follow. Past recipients include SC Johnson, Kohl’s, and 3M. ANTHC was selected to receive the award for its progress in addressing ambient (outdoor) air quality and healthy housing. The ANTHC air quality program is recognized for work assisting Tribes with addressing their air quality concerns, such as road dust, indoor air quality and refuse burning at dump sites. The healthy housing project has been working to improve indoor air quality in the homes of Alaska Native children with severe respiratory illness. Preliminary results from an evaluation being conducted in partnership with ANTHC Community Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Arctic Investigation Program suggest the project has resulted in fewer clinic visits, hospitalizations and missed days of school due to respiratory disease.