The 2 1/2-day conference is open to the public, sponsored by the town, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Carolinas HealthCare System and Alta Planning.

In September 2011, the Town of Davidson received a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Healthy Community Design Initiative to conduct health impact assessments and to train others in conducting HIAs.

HIAs can help public officials as they make decisions about policies that could affect public health.

The grant, which the town says required no town funding, enabled Davidson to hire a “Davidson Design for Life (DD4L)” coordinator to conduct HIAs, and to promote healthy community design. The competitive grant ranked Davidson alongside public health departments in Oregon, Massachusetts, San Francisco, Baltimore, and Douglas County Nebraska (Omaha).

“It’s an honor to be the only small town selected for this prestigious grant from the CDC,” said Hebert. “Being the only recipient in the south also encourages us to be the model for other southern municipalities.”

A full conference agenda is planned, with most educational events taking place at the Lilly Gallery and Chambers Building at Davidson College, and a few at the host hotel, Homewood Suites by Hilton, in Davidson.

The conference kicks-off with a pre-Summit “HIA 101” training on Wednesday, July 31, followed by conference registration, and a welcome reception.

On Thursday morning, Aug. 1, Dr. John Santopietro, the Chief Clinical Officer for Carolinas HealthCare System, will speak about The State of Mental Health in the U.S. Later in the morning, attendees will break into small group sessions before enjoying lunch at restaurants in town. In the afternoon, attendees will participate in activities in the community, such as cycling on the greenway, with bikes supplied by The Cycle Path; paddling on Lake Davidson, with assistance from Davidson Parks and Recreation; viewing the DD4L documentary Davidson Design for Life: An Initiative to Improve the Health of a Community at Our Town Cinemas followed by a book discussion of Small Town Fit with authors Dr. Deb Ryan and Margo Williams; and participating in a Universal Design and Aging presentation with Carolyn Cook. Later in the evening, Mitchell Silver, AICP, Past President of the American Planning Association, will deliver his keynote address, Building Healthy Communities, during the dinner banquet.

Attendees will rise-and-shine on Friday morning, Aug. 2 with a walking tour of Davidson, ending at Summit Coffee for coffee, tea and Farmer’s Market fruit. Small group sessions back on campus, with lunch, and a final panel session, will wrap-up the conference program.

“We are really excited about bringing together these professionals for the first regional HIA conference in the nation, and I look forward to discussing how HIA can create a healthier southeast,”  Hebert said.

“This is a great opportunity for us to showcase what we’ve done in Davidson to promote health from a built environment, social, economic, clinical, environmental and wellness perspective,” said Town Manager Leamon Brice.

The Summit costs $250 and registration is available at www.healthimpactnc/summit. The deadline for registration is July 19.

The Southeast Regional HIA Summit is made possible by funding and support from the following: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Carolinas HealthCare System, Alta Planning + Design, The Cycle Path, Summit Coffee, and the Davidson Farmer’s Market.

For more information on the Southeast Regional HIA Summit, please contact conference planner Courtney Spear at 704-400-0880 or courtneyhspear@gmail.com.

RELATED LINKS

Davidson Design 4 Life web page

Sept. 9, 2011, “own gets $350K to incorporate health into planning”

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In 2011, the Town of Davidson received a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to conduct health impact assessments (HIA) in Davidson. Katherine Hebert, our Davidson Design for Life Coordinator has conducted three HIA so far, and is currently working on four additional HIA. She will analyze the Davidson Pedestrian Plan, the upcoming Parks and Recreation Master Plan, food accessibility in Davidson, and universal design in housing. Her goal is to influence the decision-making in a manner that increases our citizens’ health.

“The Davidson Design for Life program is pleased to host Dr. Martin Birley to help educate citizens on how health impact assessments can be used by governments and businesses to consider the health impact of their decisions,” said Hebert. “It’s quite an honor to have someone of his stature come to town.”

Dr. Martin Birley is an independent international consultant in Health Impact Assessment, former Senior Lecturer at the University of Liverpool, UK, and former Senior Health Advisor on HIA at Shell. He has been at the forefront of global health impact assessment for over 28 years. He was involved in the development of the discipline since its early days in tropical medicine, to its later emergence as an instrument both for healthy public policy in the UK and Europe, and for community safeguards by international development banks. He has personal experience of many sectors including water resource development, agriculture, oil and gas, housing and planning. He has written guidelines for health agencies, development banks and multinational corporations. He continues to work all across the globe as well as in the UK. He runs training courses for institutions worldwide. He currently heads up a London based consultancy BirleyHIA. Martin’s depth of experience places him in an ideal position to provide an introduction to the rapidly expanding field of health impact assessment, for the benefit of newcomers and experienced practitioners alike.

“Because the physical, social, and intellectual wellbeing of Davidson citizens is fundamental to our community, and since we want our citizens to live in a healthy environment, we are very pleased to be hosting Dr. Martin Birley,” said Hebert.

The talk is free. Light lunch provided. Limited 60 participants. Reserve a seat by contacting Cristina Shaul at 704-940-9602 or cshaul@townofdavidson.org.

More information about the Davidson Design for Life initiative at www.townofdavidson.org/DD4L.

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Katherine Hebert

The Town of Davidson has hired Katherine Hebert as its first Davidson Design for Life coordinator. Hebert will oversee health impact assessment studies and other activities under a $350,000, three-year grant the town won this summer from the Centers for Disease Control.

Under the grant, the town will study the impacts of planning policies on health and try to develop programs and policies that promote a healthier community. Ms. Hebert came to the town from Atlanta, where she spent the past year and a half as a fellow at the CDC conducting health impact assessments and training.

RELATED COVERAGE

Sept. 9, 2011, “Town gets $350K to incorporate health into planning” – original announcement of the Centers for Disease Control grant that launched Davidson’s DD4L program.

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