Task 2 - Define and Characterize the CommunityThe exercise of mapping the community’s assets contributed to the development of a definition of the community of Island County. The definition pulled together the relationship between economics, social organization, and environment into a cohesive characterization of the key components of the community. As identified in the PACE-EH guidebook defining the community can be a difficult task when dealing with large metropolitan areas, communities covering large geographic regions or expansive, diverse populations. Defining the community of Island County was benefited by a small population (78,000) and well delineated social and political boundaries associated with the county's island geography. The relationship between the residents of Island County and the physical environment is what defines environmental health for the community. In order to better understand that relationship a description of the physical attributes and population dynamics of the community was developed to help define relationships of the community to environmental conditions that may contribute to a compromise of environmental health. The process of defining the community and mapping the community assets led to the development of the Environmental Health Assessment Team (EHAT) matrix. The matrix was developed as a guide or tool to identify the social, political, and economic interests exiting within the community that should be represented by community members assigned to the assessment team. These stakeholder interests, if represented, can also lend credibility to the assessment process findings when comprehensive community support is needed to address priority environmental health issues.
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