Synopsis: Our small rural community has a low rate of acceptance around air quality issues. This project worked to learn how to change community acceptance and readiness to work towards air quality initiatives.
Challenge: This program was originally designed to be partnered with a larger air quality project that was going to install more air sensors in our rural region to provide better, real time, data to our community about air quality. While the funding for the additional air sensors went on hold, this part of the project worked to gage community readiness for air quality initiatives in the region. The community health assessment completed in 2023 showed that 70% of Archuleta County residents rated outdoor air pollution as a minor or not an issue, unless it was related to wildfire smoke which was referred to as air quality. Overall, the sense from our community is that extreme weather and health issues are not well received, and many do not feel that there are any issues in our county. As a small, rural community in southwest Colorado the affected population is the entire community, with more medically sensitive populations who would benefit from real time data and alerts around air quality in mind.
Solution: This air quality project took place in Archuleta County, Colorado between January of 2024 to July of 2024. Archuleta county is a rural, mountain community located in southwest Colorado in the San Juan Mountains. There is no major industry or freeways that would contribute to obvious air pollution or air quality issues. Ozone is an issue and besides wildfire smoke it is one of the leading causes of poor air quality days in our community.
The work to gauge and increase community readiness included:
- Outreach events geared to increase community awareness about things, aside from wildfires, that impact air quality.
- Educational presentations to introduce the air quality scale and flagging system.
- Media outreach including newspaper articles, social media posts, and radio ads revolving around air quality awareness week.
- Community participation by 5 local organizations that agreed to fly the air quality flags during the week to indicate each day what the air quality index was. Those organizations included: The Public Library, Community Center, Local Charter School, Middle School and the local Forest Service Office.
- A community survey with questions about the importance of air quality work in our community.
Results: The immediate results were positive feedback during air quality awareness week on social media, and the two of the sites flying the air quality flags also reported positive feedback of patrons. The Forest Service office asked to keep their flags so they could continue to fly them because they received so much positive feedback that they were willing to continue monitoring it on their own.
The survey had a small response rate. Ony 22 people responded. Some results were: 13% said air quality is not an issue, 32% responded that it may be an issue but should not be a priority of the public health department. Of the 22 respondents 50% reported they did know where to find air quality data and 27% responded that the data is too limited. When asked if they would like to be involved in community-led plans to address the health impacts of extreme weather events and improve air quality only 14% (3) respondents said they would be involved. This project has had minimal long-term results but has given us some insight into how to proceed with our community.
Lessons Learned: Our activities can be replicated and were successful in their implementation but a longer time frame to set up and market the initiative would likely have garnered better overall results and more robust data. This data shows that for further impact in our community more education needs to be done, and the value of air sensor data would be beneficial in showing people real time air quality data. Given that our community has a lot of outdoor recreational opportunities, being able to share air quality alerts would help individuals plan for activities. Reaching out to the community that has health issues that are impacted by air quality such as Asthma, COPD and others would likely gain more traction than a general campaign. One health care provider responded that they would encourage patients to sign up for alerts that are more sensitive to air quality issues. The survey would have gained more traction had we been able to administer in person at some of our tabling events, but due to staff turnover in the project that was not accomplished. The social media outreach did not gain as much traction as hoped.
Contact Information
Ashley Wilson
[email protected]
(970)-264-8440
Archuleta County Public Health Department, Colorado
