President's Message
It
is my distinct privilege to welcome Washington State Environmental
Health Association (WSEHA) members from across the great state of
Washington, encourage new members from our universities and industry
and, hopefully, with dedication and hard work on our behalf,
welcome-back members who have stepped away from the association for
a time.
In looking
forward to the next year, I’d like all readers of this message to
consider for a moment the following:
Responsibility, Leadership, Partnership and Community.
I have considered these terms as they relate to WSEHA, and in
this President’s Message I will outline where I stand.
Now, I
understand that all too often these terms are rhetorically abused
and thus, these days, may ring a little hollow.
Never the less, these are terms that define how I try to
conduct myself. It is
within these terms, as principles, that my expectations of others
and organizations reside.
As such, I believe the WSEHA is a terrific vehicle for
Responsibility, Leadership, Partnership and Community.
Some folks, I believe, are solely the “you reap
what you sew” responsibility-type people.
To a certain extent, so am I, but I know it is much more.
I know responsibility is more than being accountable for
decisions good or bad.
Being responsible is doing the right thing and struggling to
determine just what right actually is.
Responsibility is a tough regulatory decision; it’s saying
no, it’s walking the dog in the rain, at night and picking up the
poop even when nobody is around.
Responsibility is leading, and developing leaders by giving
real responsibility to young people who are ready to take it.
With that
said, I have recently had the opportunity and honor to speak to the
newly revived Student Environmental Health Association (SEHA) at the
University of Washington.
I was impressed and inspired by the students’ interest in
Environmental Health (EH).
As an aside, I’d recommend speaking in front of a student
body if you ever need a shot in the arm to bolster your current
opinion of work. What
impressed me more, though, was the leadership on the behalf of the
students to organize their own group, and those within that group
who had the initiative to contact WSEHA.
I see the partnership of WSEHA and SEHA as a golden
opportunity to develop a strong environmental health association and
bring the next round of Environmental Health Professionals into the
workforce as leaders. I
plan to capitalize on the opportunity by giving real responsibility,
right away, to those who are interested.
I encourage others out there to do the same.
The SEHA
re-connecting with the WSEHA is a fine example of renewed
partnership. However, I
must admit that sometimes I hear the term partnership and I cringe.
I cringe because it seems, all too often, that partnership is
one sided where one group is the grasshopper and the other the ant.
Partnerships, in my opinion, are really just relationships.
I have learned that relationships move forward through
balance, hard work and respect on behalf of all the partners. While
I don’t claim to have mastered relationships, as my fiancé will
attest, I am willing to reach out, and I’m interested choosing to do
the work required to move forward. I am honored to be working with a
wonderfully dedicated group of individuals on the WSEHA Board who
truly exemplify partnership.
These are folks who come together from all parts of the state
in an on-going effort to make sure the EH professionals have
community.
The idea of community is interesting, especially when considering
the discipline of
Environmental Health as community.
As I mentioned previously, I recently spoke to a group of
students who will eventually move on to various additional
education, EH careers in the private sector, EH careers in the
public sector and likely some careers completely outside of EH.
It struck me at that time that the students, regardless of
their future career plans, will never be as close of a community as
they are in school. Now,
think for a moment, besides your work friends, how many people do
you know who are EH professionals?
If you are anything like me, I’d wager that the number is
low. For me,
surprisingly few of my friends, outside of work, even know what EH
is or what I really do.
The point being, there aren’t too many of us out there; we are kind
of rare. It is in this
way, that I see the WSEHA acting as glue, a forum, a professional
community where we can once again come together.
Communities occur – form for any number of reasons;
geographic, sport, electronic, education, profession… the list goes
on and on. Our community
seeks to “…enhance
individual and collective expertise, promote professional growth,
and revitalize Environmental Health endeavors.”
With that
said, welcome to Washington State’s Environmental Health community.
I invite you to attend a training.
We’ve been working to bring affordably priced, regionally
located, single-day trainings and webinars, in place of longer, more
expensive overnight trainings.
I invite you to attend a regional meeting.
If you haven’t had a regional meeting in a while, I urge you
to contact your regional Vice President and offer them your
assistance. Finally, I
invite you to become involved, become a member, host a training or
represent your region.
Geoffrey Crofoot, WSEHA President