Cultivate High Performing Collaborations & Partnerships

“We convinced several labs to include a card with the radon testing equipment that asked users to report what caused them to test. There was a code for each type of outreach we conducted. Because we know how many pieces of information we started with at each event, how many test kit certificates were distributed and how many were redeemed, and how many test kits were used, that gives us several useful data points. We now know that anything over 30% is a good usage number for an activity. For example, 39% of the test kits we promoted through our oncology outreach program were deployed, but a relatively low number of them discovered high radon levels; 20% of the tests resulting from our newborn program (modeled on PA’s maternity ward outreach program) show high radon levels; and about 50% of the tests distributed through home shows are deployed and 26% of those lead to the detection of high radon levels.”

ALA’s program in schools involves presentations to school audiences, working with science teachers to incorporate radon into science lessons, and testing local communities, class rooms and even school buildings. ALA also tracks conversions from their school-based outreach so can report back to PA on the percentages of test kits distributed that were deployed, analyzed, and even the percent that ultimately led to mitigations.

“Getting DCA to work with us on the RRNC requirement wasn’t easy. Radon programs just can’t take no for an answer; you have to keep pushing. It’s all about tenacity. Because it is a voluntary program, if people didn’t keep fighting the fight, we wouldn’t have what we have today. DCA handles all of the building codes in NJ so we have worked to educate and partner with them for years. We wanted them to adopt RRNC in all tiers but could see that wasn’t going to happen so we tried to make it easy for them to adopt the elements they could live with…We had to compromise to get where we are but over time, we demonstrated that we respect the DCA’s expertise by inviting them to the table to see how the scientific analysis that results in the updated tier map is conducted and by listening to DCA’s recommendations about how to work with the building community. We defer to them and recognize that they are the technical experts. We don’t try to compromise their position with the builders. We built a mutually respectful relationship… Because they can update their codes every month, unlike other parts of government that take years to make any regulatory changes, they can add communities to the list of Tier 1 RRNC-required building areas easily. And now we are working to expand the requirements to Tiers 2 and 3 because we see an opportunity.”