1. RACHEL MCINTOSH-KASTRINSKY MAHA MANAGER CLEAN AIR CAROLINA
Thank you for having me today. I’m Rachel McIntosh-Kastrinsky, manager of Medical Advocates for Healthy Air or MAHA, which is based in North Carolina.
RACHEL MCINTOSH-KASTRINSKY
MAHA MANAGER
CLEAN AIR CAROLINA

2. NETWORK OF HEALTH PROFESSIONALS ACROSS NC LEADING THE CALL FOR HEALTHY AIR & CLIMATE THROUGH EDUCATION AND ADVOCACY
Medical Advocates for Healthy Air or MAHA is a network of health professionals across North Carolina educating and advocating for healthy air and climate since 2007.
Healthy Air Advocates since 2007

3. OUR MEMBERS
Our membership consists of over 700 nurses, physicians, respiratory therapists, public health professionals and other health professionals across the state of NC.
Over 700 physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, health researchers and health professionals across NC

4. OUR WORK
MAHA works to improve air quality and climate health through its education and advocacy program. In this looped video, you can see me training a couple of health professionals using balloons and straws. While the activities are a good way to break up the data in my presentation, the activities can also be used in the clinic to demonstrate what an asthma attack might feel like and what lung capacity is.
Also in this video are a series of images of one of our members talking with state elected officials and giving a press conference at the NC General Assembly. MAHA is working with state and local governments to commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and moving toward renewable energy. NC is actually second in the nation in solar installation capacity. We are also working with private organizations to reduce diesel emissions, a major climate change contributor, on constructions sites through our Clean Construction Partnership.
Education, Clean Construction Partnership, State and Local Government GHG Commitments

5. OUR CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES
Photo credit: The Atlantic
OUR CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES
As many of you in this field know, there are many challenges to working on climate health issues, especially when you live in a “red” state where the state actually tried to ban sea level rise about 5 years ago. However, this is also an opportunity to bring North Carolinians together, because we are all being impacted by the effects of climate change.
Just last fall, Hurricanes Florence and Michael pounded North Carolina. Many of the affect communities were still recovering from Hurricane Matthew which hit a few years before. These effects not only impacted coastal counties, but also the many communities across eastern NC, including farmers as shown in this image.
This has actually spurred a partnership with East Carolina University School of Medicine to work together to develop a training on climate health and resilience for eastern NC, a traditionally conservative area of the state. While the impacts of Florence and Michael are awful ways to gain people’s attention, North Carolinians are now more likely to believe in climate change and to want to take action.
Because of these events bringing the community together and looking for a way to help, more health professionals are also willing to step into the advocacy role. Though this is still a challenge for MAHA. The most common thing I hear from our members when they are asked to advocate is that they are not experts in climate health. It is then my job to help them understand they are experts in health and climate health is just one aspect of health. This is why our Healthy Air, Climate and Advocacy Training is a cornerstone of our program. When people are informed they are more likely to take action.
It is always important that you know your community and how to most effectively speak to them. The state-wide network of MAHA is key to our success because local members can connect with their community in counties across the state, but also work with our local, state and national partners to see what works elsewhere.
Perception, Community, Trust

6. QUESTIONS! THANK YOU! Rachel McIntosh-Kastrinsky