Rebuilding the Unity of Health and the Environment in Rural America: Workshop Summary

Excerpt

The Roundtable chose to focus this workshop on rural America and concentrated on Iowa as the basis of its discussions. The members of the Roundtable realized that rural America is not homogeneous and that the environmental health challenges in one region of the United States may not be the challenges in other areas of the country. Water was one example, as some regions of the country face problems with water quality issues while other rural regions are experiencing drought conditions. This workshop was not meant to cover environmental health in all rural areas in depth but was conducted to obtain an overview of some of the key environmental health concerns in rural America by using the Midwest as a starting point for discussion.

Early in the planning process, Roundtable members realized that the process of engaging speakers and developing an agenda for the workshop was an important part of the enterprise. In their efforts to encourage the participation of a breadth of participants, the Roundtable members sought the input of individuals from diverse fields—industry, health care, foundations, environmental groups, government, citizen groups, and others. Their input helped shape the agenda. We would like to thank these individuals for their contributions to making this meeting a success.