Child Safety - Government Safety Agencies Continued

In addition to the federal safety agencies (CSPC, USDA, FDA and NHTSA) listed above, below are some additional federal agencies that have programs that may affect children's safety and health.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): http://www.cdc.gov/
Mailing address: 1600 Clifton Road Northeast, Atlanta, GA 30329
Phone: (800) 311-3435
E-mail: You can email CDC by clicking on www.cdc.gov/netinfo.htm and sending a message.

CDC includes 12 centers, institutes and offices and provides information on many health topics. CDC provides this information for general knowledge. Concerns about a medical condition - either your own or that of a family member, should always be addressed to your primary care physician for advice and care appropriate to your specific medical needs.

CDC provides general information on:
Health Topics from A-Z at www.cdc.gov/health/diseases.htm
Health related Hoaxes and Rumors at www.cdc.gov/hoax_rumors.htm
CDC also has seven Hotline numbers:
National Aids Hotline (800) 342 2437
National HIV/AIDS Hotline (Spanish) (800) 344-7432
National Immunization Hotline (English) (800) 232-2522
National Immunization Hotline (Spanish) (800) 232 0233
National STD Hotline (800)-227-8922
SafeUSA Federal Safety (888) 252-7751
Traveler's Health (877) 394-8747

Under the CDC umbrella are: National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/nccdhome.htm

Mailing address: Technical Information and Editorial Services Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
4770 Buford Highway, MS K13,
Atlanta, GA 30341-3724
Phone: (770) 488-5080
Fax: (770) 488-5969
E-mail: mailto:%20ccdinfo@cdc.gov

NCCDPHP provides information and referrals to the public and to professionals; gathers information on chronic disease prevention and health promotion; and develops bibliographic databases focusing on health promotion program information: Health Promotion and Education, Cancer Prevention and Control, Comprehensive School Health with an AIDS school health component, Prenatal Smoking Cessation, and Epilepsy Education and Prevention Activities. It also produces bibliographies on topics of interest in chronic disease prevention and health promotion. The NCCDPHP Information Center collections include approximately 400 periodical subscriptions, 4,000 books, and 400 reference books. Visitors may use the collection by appointment. Produces the Chronic Disease Prevention (CDP) File CD-ROM, which includes the above databases and the CDP Directory, a listing of key contacts in public health.

National Center of Injury Control and Prevention (NCIPC) www.cdc.gov/ncipc/index.htm
Mailing address: NCIPC, Mailstop K65, 4770 Buford Highway, NE,
Atlanta, GA 30341-3724
Phone: (770) 488-1506
Fax: (770) 488-1667
E-mail: mailto:%20OHCINFO@cdc.gov

NCIPC works to reduce morbidity, disability, mortality, and costs associated with injuries. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began studying home and recreational injuries in the early 1970s and violence prevention in 1983. From these early activities grew a national program to reduce injury, disability, death, and costs associated with injuries outside the workplace. In June 1992, CDC established the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC). As the lead federal agency for injury prevention, NCIPC works closely with other federal agencies; national, state, and local organizations; state and local health departments; and research institutions. The website has up-to-date information about injury prevention, information fact sheets about specific injuries, scientific data, surveillance and injury statistics and publications concerning injury and violence prevention.

CDC is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services http://www.hhs.gov/.

U.S. Department of Education http://www.ed.gov/
Mailing address: 400 Maryland Avenue, SW,
Washington, DC 20202-0498
Phone: (800) 872-5327
E-mail: mailto:%20customerservice@inet.ed.gov

The mission of the U.S. Department of Education is to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence for all Americans. The site has information on its program to educate every child in America to his or her full potential as well as information about disability discrimination and children at risk.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) www.hhs.gov/index.html
Mailing address: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20201 Phone: (202) 619-0257, Toll Free: 1-877-696-6775
E-mail - mailto:%20hhsmail@os.dhhs.gov

The Department of Health and Human Services is the United States Government's principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services, especially for those who are least able to help themselves.

HHS has more than 300 programs, covering a wide spectrum of activities. Some highlights include:

• Medical and social science research
• Preventing outbreak of infectious disease, including immunization services
• Assuring food and drug safety
• Medicare (health insurance for elderly and disabled Americans) and Medicaid (health insurance for low-income people)
• Financial assistance and services for low-income families
• Improving maternal and infant health
• Head Start (pre-school education and services)
• Preventing child abuse and domestic violence
• Substance abuse treatment and prevention
• Services for older Americans, including home-delivered meals
• Comprehensive health services for Native Americans

Some of the agencies under the HHS umbrella include:

• Administration for Children and Families (ACF) www.acf.dhhs.gov/ is responsible for some 60 programs that provide services and assistance to needy children and families. ACF administers the new state-federal welfare program and is a federal agency funding state, local, and tribal organizations to provide family assistance (welfare), child support, child care, Head Start, child welfare, and other programs relating to children and families. ACF assists state organizations that provide family assistance programs through funding, policy direction, and information services. Actual services are provided by state, county, city, and tribal governments, and public and private local agencies.

• Agency for Regional Health Care and Quality (AHRQ) www.ahrq.gov/ supports research designed to improve the outcomes and quality of health care, reduce its costs, address patient safety and medical errors, and broaden access to effective services. The research sponsored, conducted, and disseminated by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) provides information that helps people make better decisions about health care.

• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) http://www.cms.hhs.gov/ (formerly the Health Care Financing Administration) administers the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP programs, which provide health care to America's aged and indigent populations, about one in every four Americans, including nearly 18 million children. It also provides nursing home coverage for low-income elderly. CMS also administers the new Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP or SCHIP) through approved state plans that cover more than 2.2 million children.

• Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) www.hrsa.gov/ helps provide health resources for medically underserved populations. HRSA supports a nationwide network of 643 community and migrant health centers, and 144 primary care programs for the homeless and residents of public housing, serving 8.1 million Americans each year. HRSA also works to build the health care workforce and maintains the National Health Service Corps, oversees the nation's organ transplantation system, works to decrease infant mortality and improve child health and provides services to people with AIDS through the Ryan White CARE Act programs. HRSA sponsors Insure Kids Now www.insurekidsnow.gov/ is a national campaign to link the nation's 10 million uninsured children--from birth to age 18--to free and low-cost health insurance. Many families simply don't know their children are eligible.

• Indian Health Service (IHS) www.ihs.gov/ supports a network of 37 hospitals, 60 health centers, 3 school health centers, 46 health stations and 34 urban Indian health centers to provide services to nearly 1.5 million American Indians and Alaska Natives of 557 federally recognized tribes.

• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration www.samhsa.gov/ works to improve the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services.

CDC, FDA and NIH, previously mentioned on this site are all part of HHS.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) http://www.hud.gov/
Mailing address: 451 7th Street, SW,
Washington, DC 20410
Phone: (202) 708-1112

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) coordinates and administers programs that provide assistance for housing and community development. The department assists in finding solutions to the problems of housing and urban development through state, local, or private action. It makes direct loans, insures mortgages, and provides housing subsidies, and it promotes and enforces equal housing opportunity and provides information and grants to assess a number of health hazards relating to the condition of housing. HUD has a number of offices around the country. To find an office near you, click on www.hud.gov/local/index.html.

The HUD Healthy Homes Initiative (HHI) is designed to protect children and their families from health and safety hazards in the home. The HHI builds upon the Department's existing activities on housing related health and safety issues including lead hazard control, building structural safety, electrical safety and fire protection to address multiple childhood diseases and injuries related to housing in a coordinated fashion, rather than addressing a single hazard at a time. Activities focus on researching and demonstrating effective assessment and intervention methods, and on public education. Healthy Homes research funding supports programs to develop new methods for assessing and controlling home health hazards.

HUD is also conducting an extensive campaign to protect children in low-income households from lead-based paint and other public health and safety hazards.

The Lead Hazard Control grants fund:

• Blood testing for children living in low-income housing;
• Removal of lead-based paint hazards from privately owned low-income homes and apartments;
• Inspecting and testing low-income housing for the presence of lead hazards;
• Temporarily relocating families during lead control work;
• Community education and outreach;
• Job training for lead hazard control workers; and,
• Collecting and analyzing data to identify housing with lead hazards.

There are a number of resources within HUD. Some of these include:

Healthy Homes for Healthy Children www.hud.gov/consumer/hhhchild.html
Healthy Homes Checklists www.hud.gov/healthy/mainmenu.html
Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control
www.hud.gov/offices/lead/index.html
National Survey of Lead and Allergens in housing
www.hud.gov/lea/HUD_NSLAH_Vol1.pdf
HUD Healthy Homes Hotline (800) HUDS-FHS

Another HUD resource is: Housing and Urban Development (HUD) User http://www.huduser.org/
Mailing address: P.O. Box 6091,
Rockville, MD 20849
Phone: (800) 245-2691; (800) 483-2209 (TTD) Fax: (301) 519-5767
E-mail: mailto:%20huduser@aspensys.com

This service disseminates publications for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Policy Development and Research. It also offers database searches on housing research and provides reports on housing safety, housing for elderly and handicapped persons and lead-based paint.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) http://www.epa.gov/
Mailing address: Ariel Rios Bldg, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave NW,
Washington, DC 20460
Phone: (202) 260-2090

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was established to reduce and control air and water pollution, noise pollution and radiation and to ensure the safe handling and disposal of toxic substances. The mission of EPA is to protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment. EPA has ten regional offices around the country. To find the office nearest to you click on www.epa.gov/epahome/aboutepa.htm#regiontext.

There are a number of resources within EPA. Some of these include:

Asbestos - www.epa.gov/region04/air/asbestos/homeasb.htm
Children's Environmental Health - www.epa.gov/kids
Children's Health Protection - www.epa.gov/children
Environmental Management - www.epa.gov/ebtpages/environmentalmanagement.html
Indoor Air Quality www.epa.gov/iaq
Lead - www.epa.gov/lead/nlic.htm
Ozone - www.epa.gov/airnow/ozone.html
Office of Children's Health and Protection - www.epa.gov/children
Radon - www.epa.gov/iaq/contacts.html
Water - www.epa.gov/safewater

• EPA's automated National People Locator www.epa.gov/epahome/locator.htm contains the telephone numbers of most EPA employees and associated contractors. You can search the locator by the name of the employee.