The Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act of 2019 Signed Into Law: NEHA's Journey to Get Environmental Health to the Table

When I first started at the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) in 2016, Executive Director Dr. David Dyjack and I met with the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to discuss the opening of NEHA's new Washington DC, office. Our agenda for this conversation was to determine how environmental health professionals could get a seat at the emergency preparedness table. We were told that unless environmental health professionals were in the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA), they could not be involved in the national emergency preparedness discussion. In 2017 NEHA held its first Annual Hill Day--a day in which NEHA board members and staff meet with senators, representatives, and their staff from both political parties to ensure that the environmental health profession has a voice in major policy decisions. We held our Third Annual Hill Day on May 1, 2019. During these events, our board members and staff were encouraged to emphasize the need for environmental health to be included in PAHPA.