What: Thurston County’s Healthy Homes Program trains volunteers to
provide free home visits to Thurston County residents to encourage behavior and
actions to promote healthy living spaces – such as dealing with and preventing
mold, creating healthy indoor air, reducing asthma triggers, reducing exposure
to toxins, and more. We have a free volunteer training coming
up this fall! You can learn all about housing-related health risks and how to
prevent and reduce them. This training includes expert guest speakers, field
trips, and opportunities to put what you learn into practice. It’s fun and the
knowledge gained is useful in our daily lives.
Who: This training is for people interested (or who work) in
housing, improving health, safety, and giving back to the community. No prior
experience is necessary; the training teaches all you need to know to conduct
Healthy Homes Visits in pairs. These visits are free, voluntary, and completely
confidential. We don’t do any sort of enforcement or mediation. We are invited
to do the visit by the resident, where we perform a checklist and walk-through. Based on what we find we provide information, guidance, and resource lists
to the residents to help them take the next steps. We are flexible with
volunteer hours for people who will use the knowledge and skills from the
training in their regular work.
Why: Housing conditions can cause health problems or make
existing health problems much worse. This is especially the case for children,
the elderly, pregnant women, and people with compromised immune systems. There
are many simple, low or no cost ways for people to reduce the risks of
housing-related health issues and our goal is to educate and empower residents
to create habits that promote the healthiest possible living space. Program
staff are available to work with and help volunteers to feel comfortable and
confident in providing Healthy Homes Visits.
When: The training starts September 15 and runs every Tuesday from
6-9 p.m. through November 17, 2015. This is a total of 30 hours of fun,
hands-on training and afterwards we ask volunteers to provide 30 hours of
volunteer service (which is about 10 home visits) as their schedules allow.
Volunteers can also put in time by participating in booths at community events,
performing outreach, or working on special projects. We are flexible with
volunteer hours for people who will use the knowledge and skills from the
training in their regular work.
Where: The training is held at the Thurston County Public Health at
412 Lilly Rd. NE, Olympia, 98506; across from St. Peter’s Hospital. Intercity
Transit bus routes # 60, 62A, and 62B serve the area. To sign up or find out
more, contact coordinator, Elisa Kaufmann at HealthyHomes@co.thurston.wa.us
or 360-867-2674 (TDD 360-867-2603.) If transportation is an issue for anyone
who is interested, please don’t let that stop you from applying. We are close
to bus routes and there is a good chance that volunteers attending the training
can carpool.
Healthy Homes Program website: http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/health/ehhm/healthyhomes.html
Training Flyer (also attached): http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/health/ehhm/pdf/HHFlyer.pdf
Apply today!
Volunteer Job Description: http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/health/ehhm/pdf/HHJobDescript.pdf
Volunteer Application: http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/health/ehhm/pdf/HHApplication.pdf
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