Another Tracking Fellowship Success

Submission Date: April 2015

State/Territory Submitted on the Behalf of: Washington, D.C.

States/Territories Involved: Maryland, Washington, D.C.

Funding Source: CDC

CDC Funding:

Yes

CDC Funding (Specified):

Other CDC Funding

Domain Addressed:

Epidemiology and Surveillance

Public Health Issue:

Initial Washington D.C. Tracking Work

• The District of Columbia (D.C.) has been working on environmental public health tracking since 2002.
• As part of the original CDC Tracking Program pilot projects, Washington D.C. made good progress. They successfully inventoried and evaluated environmental and public health databases, established a planning process, and garnered funding to sustain their efforts.

Program Action:

Fellowship Opportunity Helps Preserve Tracking Work

• Although CDC funding ended in 2006, D.C. continued tracking efforts through the Tracking Program Fellowship. With guidance from an established Tracking Program state, the District of Columbia Department of Health (DCDOH) identified new data sources and re-established a technical advisory group during the first year as a Tracking Fellowship Program.

Impact/Accomplishments:

• Participating in a second year of the Tracking Fellowship Program allowed DCDOH to expand its tracking efforts by adopting and customizing an existing database system and entering 10 years of data on asthma and heart attacks.
• The health department also partnered with the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (MDHMH), which currently hosts the District’s data on asthma and heart attacks. DCDOH continues to look for ways to sustain and expand the database and continues working with MDHMH to establish a regional data system.
• Users can access the regional data system online with the login ID “testuser” and password “test1Password” at: http://dmv.ephtracking.net/dmv_staging_secure/login.aspx?r
• “The Tracking Fellowship Program gives the department of health a new capacity for assessing environmental exposures and health problems. I would advise anyone looking to build a tracking network to work with programs that have a fully developed network—it’s cost-effective and promotes success. The Fellowship made it easier to build important relationships and gain access to much-needed technical support.” –Dr. John Davies-Cole, The DC Tracking Program Fellow Project

Program Areas:

Environmental Public Health, Epidemiology and Surveillance

State Contact Information:

DC
District of Columbia Department of Health

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