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CHP program director solves costly dilemma by Kathy J. Gatten College of Health Professions South Carolina schools were caught between a rock and hard place.  Although mandated by the federal government, environmental compliance training was costly—both in time and money. As a result, state schools were either ignoring regulations or attempting to do it themselves, neither a good solution. Instead, the good solution came from Andy Rowland, director of the program in Environmental Health Sciences in MUSC’s College of Health Professions. In August 1997 he began talking with the state superintendent of education about his idea to provide the needed training via satellite to schools across the state.  The idea was great, but unfortunately the money wasn’t there to fund the project.   Rather than give up, Rowland expanded his idea by adding the Internet to the picture. Not only could he supply live broadcasts on needed topics, he could build a website to provide training materials and serve as an ongoing resource. He could let each school district subscribe individually, so one state agency wouldn’t bear the complete financial burden.  He formed an advisory board from agencies and universities across the state to pool expertise, ideas, and time. The Environmental Health Education Partnership (EHEP) was born. Meanwhile, Inez Tenenbaum (a former environmental litigator) was elected superintendent of education. She asked Rowland to present his idea to her and she became his advocate, encouraging him to apply for a federal grant, promoting corporate sponsorship at a luncheon with business executives from across the state, and endorsing the participation of the state’s school districts. Currently, 200 of the state’s 1,000 kindergarten through grade 12 schools are members of the partnership, which aired its first broadcast on Dec. 2, with the topic “Pesticide Safety and Management” featuring Stanley Schuman, M.D., an MUSC agromedicine specialist.  Other topics include: “Lead Poisoning Prevention,“ “Indoor Air Quality,” and “Asbestos Awareness Training.”  Each monthly segment (which ranges in length from 30 to 120 minutes) is broadcast live from a studio at MUSC. Subscribers are encouraged to call the studio during the broadcast to ask questions of the experts. Distance education learning centers around the state record each show and make it available to subscribers who may not be able to tune in at the time of the broadcast. Phase two of the EHEP plan will bring the students into the studio to show off their science fair projects or address topics of interest to them. Phase three includes summer camps focusing on environment issues at three levels: elementary, middle, and high schools.  “We’re hoping to have students who will matriculate through all levels of the camps to become EHEP Scholars,” said Rowland. “Our mission for the program is to increase their awareness of environmental concerns while exposing them to career options in the environmental sciences that they may not have considered otherwise, and to provide scholarship support for students who choose this field of study.” To learn more about the EHEP program, visit <http://www2.musc.edu/pehs/EHEP/ehep.htm>.