FAQs
What is Environmental Public Health Tracking?
Environmental public health tracking (sometimes known as EPHT or Tracking) is the ongoing
collection, integration, analysis, and interpretation of data about environmental hazards,
exposure to environmental hazards, and adverse health outcomes potentially related to exposure
to environmental hazards. The goal of environmental public health tracking is to protect the
health of communities by providing information to citizens, and federal, state, and local
agencies for use in planning and evaluating public health and environmental actions.
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What is an indicator?
An indicator is a fact or trend that indicates the level or condition of something. Well
known indicators include gross national product, unemployment rates, and presidential
approval ratings. In a public health context, indicators show trends like cancer rates, drinking water
contamination levels, and blood lead levels in children. When an indicator has several parts that combine to
indicate the status of the concept being measured, the individual items are called "measures."
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What types of data and information are available on this web site?
EnviroHealthLink (EHL) makes data available through queryable datasets.
That means that the users is able to interact with the query system to
customize the data they would like to explore. We are also working to create
community based indicator reports so that users can view a number of
indicators for a specific community.
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How are indicator data organized?
Indicator data on EHL are organized into three categories: health, environment, and
community. To explore background information and resources for these topics,
select the topic from the top navigation bar. These categories are also
subdivided into topic areas. Data can be accessed through exploring these
content pages or directly, by selecting Data Portal on the upper navigation bar.
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Can I go directly to the data?
You can access data queries by going to the
Datasets Index under the "Data Portal" tab. Queryable dataset are located on the
Public Query Dataset Index under the "Data Portal" tab.
Dataset Queries can also be accessed by from a specific topics content page under the "Health" or "Environment" tabs.
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What are custom queries?
Custom queries allow users to work directly with datasets. A query provides search parameters that the user must fill in according
to what data the user wants. After the search parameters are entered, click Submit and the system will provide the requested data.
Datasets are located on the
Dataset
Index Page under the "Data Portal" tab.
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Why are some data only presented on a county versus municipal level?
Sometimes, when the number of cases of a health condition is small and the total number of people from
which the case(s) come is small, those particular data cannot be made public since it could
be possible to trace the data back to individuals. Since the risk for a breach of
confidentiality is higher when reporting small numbers, some health data are "suppressed"
or "restricted."
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What if I can't find the data I need?
If you have an interest in particular data, please see the
Contact Us
page. We continue to add information, and keep records of requests which will help determine data and
indicator priorities for the future.
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How do I request access to more data than are available through this web site?
Requests for secure (non-public) data sets can be made to the Kentucky EPHT Program at the Kentucky
Department for Public Health. These requests will be forwarded to the appropriate data steward who
is responsible for the original data and its distribution. The data steward has the ultimate
authority over the data and will make a determination if the person or organization requesting
additional data meets statutory or departmental criteria for obtaining non-public data.
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Are other states participating in the EPHT Network?
In addition to Kentucky, 25 states and 1 city participate in the CDC-funded Tracking
network. To see the other states participating in the tracking network go to the
State and Local Tracking Programs page.
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How do I access data available in other states?
You can access EPHT-related data from other states from their individual websites (
State Tracking Networks) or the National Portal as well
(
National EPHT Tracking Network).
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How do I access data available on the National network?
National tracking data can be accessed on the CDC's
National EPHT Network website. Click on "Explore
Our New Data Query Tool" to submit a custom query or choose a topic: environments, health effects, population health, or
info by location.
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How do data on Kentucky's web site differ from CDC's National site?
Both the Kentucky Tracking portal and the National portal allow you to access and visualize
data sets.
The National portal presents datasets that have been processed according to
standardized guidelines which allow for national comparisons (such as state-to-state comparisons).
On the other hand, the Kentucky portal contains datasets that were contributed
to the National portal. However, the Kentucky portal provides additional datasets and information that is specific to
Kentucky's environmental and public health needs.
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What is a local health department?
Local health departments provide many essential health services including
disease outbreak investigations, regulation of known sources of health hazards
such as food establishments, and health education and prevention services such
as immunizations and preventive health screenings.
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