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Meigs County Annual Clean Up Day

State: OH Type: Promising Practice Year: 2018

Meigs County Clean-up Days are developed to clean-up abandoned and/or vacant wooded or rural lots/areas in Meigs County, Ohio. Meigs County is located in south-east central Ohio on the Ohio River. it ha a population of over 23,000 people, over 70% are senior citizens. Over the past 4 years, the annual clean-up days have helped to clean-p mosquito breeding grounds (abandoned tires), vermin breeding grounds (scrap metal depositories, trash, what-not), and community involvement; county commissioners, county employees and Meigs County MRC volunteers. Each year, over 8 40-yard drop-off boxes are filled with scrap tires, over 8 30-yard drop-off boxes are filled with scrap metals and abandoned materials. Funding for this endeavor has been provided in previous years by the EPA to the county, but that funding id drying up. Meigs MRC would like to help maintain this service by obtaining some funding. Last year over 2000 tires and over 2 tons of scrap metals and junk were collected. It is a very worthwhile county endeavor. Meigs county has a large group of potential volunteers for projects like this. Meigs MRC provides sign-up sheets (92 last year), vests, hats, and sometimes Tee shirts to the volunteers for their use at the Clean-up. The total cost for project is about $21,000 and Meigs MRC would like to donate the Challenge (either $7500 or $12500) award to this effort. Meigs MRC is hosted on the Meigs County Health Department website, meigs-health.com, twitter, @MeigsHealth Dept, and Facebook, Meigs County Ohio Health Department.
County-wide Meigs County Health Department environmental health sanitarians noticed each year that illegal dumps consisting of scrap tires, metal, appliances, TVs and other trash were appearing through-out rural Meigs County. Also Meigs residents were complaining about the dumping to the Health departemnt, Commissioners and other public officials. There were increases of vectors breeding grounds for mosquitoes and there is and was a concern for vector-borne illnesses such as Zika, West Nile Virus, and others (Meigs had 1 fatality from WNV in 2017). The county commissioners started searching for funding to help fund a clean-up day. Funding that was used has now ended and the commisssioners and MCHD and MCMRC have pledged to find continued funding. The MRC Challenge awards are a way of accomplishing this. The annual cost is about $20,000. So, $7500 is a good start.
Healthcare-associated Infections
Goals: 1. Clean up the Meigs County country-side and neighborhoods. 2. Foster cooperation between citizens and county employees 3. Remove and lessen mosquito and vector borne breeding grounds to remove threat of Zika and West Nile Virus (1 fatality in Meigs in 2017). Steps taken to implement the program: 1. Find willing scrap yards, recyclers, transportation, and a set-up area. 2. Ascertain costs. 3. Recuit and train county volunteers to staff and work the effort. 4. Set a date and advertise. 5. Find Funding 6. Total costs: About $21,00.00. see accounting later... Any criteria for who was selected to receive the practice (if applicable)? All Meigs County homes, businesses and farms. Were other stakeholders involved? What was their role in the planning and implementation process? What does the LHD do to foster collaboration with community stakeholders? Describe the relationship(s) and how it furthers the practice goal(s) 1. Meigs County: Health Department, Meigs County MRC, Meigs; EMA, 9-1-1, EMS 2. Meigs County Fairboard (for fairgrounds use). 3 .Meigs County Courthouse and Commissioners 4. 3 Meigs County Local School Districts 5. 7 Meigs county township trustees The above all worked together to plan. prepare and carryout the annual clean-up days. All became temporary, one-day Meigs County MRC volunteers for a day. Any start up or in-kind costs and funding services associated with this practice? Please provide actual data, if possible. Otherwise, provide an estimate of start-up costs/ budget breakdown. SEE BELOW: Equipment (drop boxes, cargo containers from recyclers, scrappers): $18,851 Advertising (Billboards, etc.): $ 1,885 Total: $20,736
Evaluation: Over the last 4 years, the Meigs Clean-up days (usually in May or May and September) have been a rousing success. 1. Over 2000 tires (on average) per year have been gathered 2. Tons of metal and plastic scrap have been collected 3. Personal paper documents (thousands of pages) have been shredded and recycled 4. Many county entities and residents have worked together to clean the county 5. All involved want to continue the program Eliminating mosquito breeding grounds is the major public health improvement on county record. eliminating rabid wildlife habitats thru scrap cleanup is another positive. Most people contributing to the effort bringing in their scrap rave about how wonderful it is to have so many concerned people putting this on for NO COST!
SUSTAINABILITY 1. Each year more tires, TVs, scrap metal get collected, we're making a cleaner, healthier county. 2. Funding is a necessity for this to carry on. Funds from vendors and recyclers generate some funds (several hundred dollars at most , not enough to support future endeavors). LESSONS LEARNED Unwanted TVs, electronics, appliances, tires, metal scraps will always be generated. In Meigs County we give solutions for their disposal. Instead of trowing them over a hillside , we can collect, sort and dispose those items. Everone is happy!
At a conference|Colleague from another public health agency|E-Mail from NACCHO