Health Consultations

Completed Health Consultations

What is a Health Consultation?

A CDPHE health consultation is not the same thing as a medical exam, a community health study, or a Public Health Assessment. It can sometimes lead to those things, as well as to other public health activities.

A Health Consultation provides advice on a specific public health issue related to real or possible human exposure to toxic material. A Health Consultation is a way for CDPHE to respond quickly to a need for health information on toxic substances and to make recommendations for actions to protect the public's health. CDPHE staff evaluate information available about toxic material at the site, determine whether people might be exposed to it, and report what harm exposure might cause.

Health Consultations may consider

the levels (or "concentrations") of hazardous substances
if and how people might be exposed to contamination (through "exposure pathways" such as breathing air, drinking or contacting water, contacting or eating soil, or eating food)
the harm the substances might cause to people (or the contaminants' "toxicity")
if and how working or living nearby might affect people's health
other dangers to people, such as unsafe buildings, abandoned mine shafts, or other physical hazards

What Happens After the Health Consultation?

Every Health Consultation includes CDPHE's conclusions about public health hazards and recommendations for actions to protect the public's health. For example, CDPHE recommendations can contribute to

site cleanup
keeping people away from contamination and physical dangers-for example, by fencing the site
giving residents acceptable drinking water
community environmental health education for residents and health care providers to inform them about site contaminants, harmful health effects, and ways to reduce or prevent health effects
a health study

In addition, a Health Consultation can lead to other CDPHE activities-specifically, a Public Health Assessment or Public Health Advisory.

Public Health Assessments report on sites but in greater detail. Public Health Advisories are used when sites pose an immediate and significant threat to people.

ATSDR in Partnership With Colorado

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is the lead public health agency responsible for implementing the health-related provisions of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). ATSDR is an Atlanta-based federal agency responsible for assessing the presence and nature of health hazards at specific Superfund sites, helping to prevent or reduce further exposure and illnesses resulting from those hazards, and expanding the knowledge base about the health effects of exposure to hazardous substances.

ATSDR works closely with state agencies such as Colorado to carry out its mission to serve the public by using the best science, taking responsive public health actions, and providing trusted health information to prevent harmful exposures and disease related to toxic substances. ATSDR provides funding and technical assistance to states and other partners through cooperative agreements and grants to identify and evaluate environmental health threats to communities. These resources enable state and local health departments and other grantees to further investigate environmental health concerns and to educate communities.