By Margaret Henderson (CRCPD)
Alabama is using a targeted approach to best utilize personnel and funding resources to encourage people to be proactive about testing their homes for radon.
The Zone 1 counties in Alabama (those with expected radon levels exceeding the EPA’s recommended action level of 4pCi/L) are primarily in the northern part of the state. Fifteen counties have been identified as having the highest potential for elevated radon levels. They are Calhoun, Clay, Cleburne, Colbert, Coosa, Franklin, Jackson, Jefferson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Morgan, Shelby and Talladega counties.
To reach households in the northern part of the state, the Radon Program is expanding its outreach through hospitals, targeting newborns through seven participating hospitals. As David Turberville, Program Director, says, “People might not think of testing for themselves, but they will do it for their children.” The program provides information folders with a mail-in certificate for free radon kits. The hospitals distribute the materials in prenatal classes or to parents when mothers are discharged with their newborn. The initiative started in July and the program is now getting certificates returned and starting to distribute the test kits. Based on the average births in Alabama, the Radon Program expects to reach 10,000 households through this initiative.
In another targeted health outreach, earlier this year, the Radon Program partnered with the Alabama Comprehensive Cancer Control Coalition (ACCCC) to do a promotional distribution through 15 pharmacies in Zone 1 counties. The pharmacies gave out free test kits and informational handouts as part of Radon Action Month. Also in January of 2014, media advertising was conducted in the Zone 1 counties in order to target the population with the highest predicted risk.
The next project the program plans is an update of the Radon Program website. Working with the Public Information Office of the Alabama Department of Public Health, the plan is to update the site and provide public information and resource material to residents throughout Alabama from the Department of Public Health’s Montgomery office.
For more information, contact:
David A. Turberville, Director
Environmental Radioactivity and Special Projects Branch
Office of Radiation Control
Alabama Department of Public Health
(334) 206-5391
http://www.adph.org/radon/
United States