Environmental Health and Safety: Improving the Living Environment for Families and Children

In its 2001 report "Public Health: Understanding Our Needs," the St. Louis City Department of Health profiled neighborhoods with greatest incidences of illness. The zip code exhibiting the poorest health status of its residents was 63106, which includes the Old North St. Louis neighborhood.

Problematic environment

The environmental factors for Old North St. Louis and surrounding areas are especially problematic and are exhibited by a high incidence of lead poisoning and asthma. 23.5 percent of children screened there were found to be lead poisoned. The major source of lead is from chipping lead paint, found in housing stock built prior to 1950. Lead poisoning can adversely affect intelligence, behavior and development.

The 63106 zip code also has the highest asthma hospitalization rate in the City of St. Louis. Asthma affects more than 5% of the total population and disproportionately affects poor, inner city dwellers. Asthma attacks can be reduced by medication and by controlling environmental triggers like dust, tobacco smoke, cockroaches and some chemicals.

Working to improve conditions

An instructor and student survey properties on North Market Street, looking for potential environmental hazards.

The City's report recommends the following public health interventions to deal with environmental risks in the 63016 zip code:

• screening programs
• health education programs
• epidemiological assessments to determine high risk areas
• prevention programs
• environmental sanitation interventions

The Old North Neighborhood Partnership linked the Barnes College of Nursing at UMSL with the City of St. Louis and other community partners to assess the Old North St. Louis neighborhood and to improve the health conditions there.

Where the Old North Neighborhood Partnership is focusing

• Environmental Health Assessment

Faculty and students in the Barnes College of Nursing and Health Studies worked with neighborhood residents and a project advisory committee to conduct a community health assessment that focused on the environmental conditions in the neighborhood. Click here for a description of the Environmental Health Assessment Process, which was implemented by community health nursing faculty and students, in cooperation with community residents. As a result of the assessment process, the Advisory Committee agreed upon three community priorities of importance to the neighborhood:

•Occupied Housing

• Vacant Lots and Unoccupied Housing

• Air Quality
• Development of Prevention-Focused Interventions

  The findings of the environmental assessment served as the foundation for the development of a set of prevention-focused interventions that residents and community partners can utilize to improve conditions in the neighborhood. Community residents and students worked together to identify vacant lots and unoccupied housing units that posed the most safety hazards, and worked with a City Health Department sanitarium to assist with clean up and remediation. Project staff and volunteers also offered classes in safe home repairs, indoor air quality, and reducing environmental soil hazards with landscaping. Additional projects and products included:

  •  Environmental Education and Resource Lending Library. Located in the offices of the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, the library provides current and potential residents with books, videotapes and brochures, along with screening and protection equipment such as moisture meters and carbon monoxide detectors.

  • Rehabbers Tool Kit. Educational materials related to environmental hazards found in older homes and guides on how to safely renovate or complete home repairs are available at the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group offices.