A Story of Health Wins CDC Communications Award

The NCEH/ATSDR award given to A Story of Health

The National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) have honored A Story of Health multimedia eBook/continuing education course with an “Excellence in Communications” award.

NCEH and ATSDR are agencies of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The award was given at the annual NCEH/ATSDR Honor Awards on February 3, 2016, to A Story of Health Team for excellence in communication for the development of a medical education product that highlights the importance of environmental health.

A Story of Health: Something for Everyone

written by Elise Miller, MEd
Director 

We all know there are multiple contributors to health and disease, but let’s say you want to figure out what the latest science says on environmental links to, say, asthma? Or learning disabilities? Or childhood leukemia? Pretty daunting, isn’t it? Which websites have the most evidence-based science? Which articles are accessible without paying a subscription or membership fee? What do those research findings mean for your patients, your family, and community? And many other pressing questions. Most health care professionals can’t begin to keep up with the emerging scientific literature, much less the rest of us.

Fortunately, A Story of Health is a brilliant, innovative new resource that can help you find out how various environments interact with our genes to influence health across the lifespan. Based on the latest peer-reviewed research, it’s more than a bunch of scientific facts thrown together with fancy graphics. It’s a story, or really—multiple, interactive, and interconnected stories that touch us and teach us not only about risk factors for disease, but how to prevent disease and promote health and resilience.

A Story of Health Launches

written by Elise Miller, MEd
Director

If your holidays were like mine, you gathered with extended family to celebrate. Mixed with the sharing of good cheer, you may have also learned that your cousin has been suffering severe asthma attacks or your young niece was diagnosed with childhood leukemia or your grandson is having difficulty learning and relating to peers. Unfortunately, these stories seem to be woven more thickly into the fabric of our family conversations as various chronic health challenges increasingly dominate the landscape of our lives.

Why is this happening? Are there actions we can take as individuals and as a society so that we more often get to share stories of good health with our family and friends, rather than so many about chronic disease and disability?