Rebuilding Caribbean Environmental Health Post-Crisis Programs: Case Study for Virtual Mentorship

Abstract

After the U.S. Caribbean 2017 hurricanes, rebuilding, strengthening, and sustaining essential environmental health (EH) services and systems were critical. The National Environmental Health Association, in partnership with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), developed an online mentorship program for both newly hired and existing environmental health staff, as well as health department leadership in the Caribbean health departments. Participants were provided both practical and didactic learning and were given the opportunity to evaluate the program. Both mentors and mentees were highly satisfied with the knowledge and skills acquired, and mentees expressed it was relevant to their daily work. Based on the findings, we recommend both an online and a hybrid mentorship program be considered for leadership- and inspector-level workforces in EH and potentially other fields.