Climate and Health Resilience Initiative Community Workshops
On March 22, 2022, the CHRI held its first community resilience workshop to help strengthen the capacity of older adults and associated local agencies to prepare for, respond to, and recover from severe weather events in the Monadnock Region. The discussions on partnership diversity and maintenance, communication outreach and coordination, resource availability and mobilization, and organizational capacity building were informative and collaborative. The workshop was a success!
Building upon that success, the CHRI hosted a second virtual workshop on April 12, 2022. That workshop focused on the effects of climate on health, particularly of the over-65 community, which is the Region’s largest-growing population. Matt Cahillane, from the NH Department of Public Health and Human Services, talked about the climate hazards and the health impacts that challenge our residents and service agencies, followed by an interactive discussion on social capital and cohesion before, during, or after a severe weather event.
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Presenters:
Cynthia Nichols, MS, BSN, RN, Graduate Research Assistant, Climate & Health Resilience Initiative, AUNE Center for Climate Preparedness & Community Resilience, will present 3/22 on community resilience. Cynthia is a registered nurse who is passionate about trying to help mitigate the impacts of climate change and contribute to more resilient and equitable and environmentally friendly communities.
Matt Cahillane, NH DHHS, will present 4/12 on climate & health. Mr. Cahillane is a Program Manager within the NH DHHS Division of Public Health Services. His main responsibilities are to assess and act on the health impacts of weather and climate-related hazards at the population level in New Hampshire. Support for these activities comes via a CDC cooperative agreement under the Climate Ready States and Cities Initiative (CRSCI). He also supports local health officers to solve environmental health problems related to housing and sanitation. His educational background includes a self-designed B.S. in Preventive Health Studies from UMass Amherst, and a MPH with a concentration in health education & behavioral sciences from UCLA.
Dr. Janine Marr 
Dr. Jason Rhoades
Dr. Janine Marr & Dr. Jason Rhoades, CCPCR, will facilitate the ADEPT & COPEWELL discussions on 3/22 & 4/12. Dr. Marr is the lead researcher for the CHRI and was the graduate research assistant for the Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) project in the Monadnock Region that focused on strengthening the resilience of over-65 residents to severe precipitation events. Dr. Rhoades is a researcher for CCPCR and AUNE faculty member who focuses on climate change adaptation planning projects with vulnerable populations.
Dr. Kathleen Bush is the Program Manager for the Environmental Public Health Tracking Program at the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health Services. Her work focuses on human-environment interactions. She is committed to building environmental health capacity and increasing awareness of environmental hazards and health equity. Kathleen completed her Ph.D. in 2011 in Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, where she was also a Graham Environmental Sustainability Doctoral Fellow. She completed a dual B.S. in Biology and Environmental Studies (with a minor in Math) at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY.
For more information, contact researchers: Dr. Janine Marr, ,603-283-2346 & Dr. Jason Rhoades,
View Our Recent Publication How do we build community resilience to disasters in a changing climate? A review of interventions to improve and measure public health outcomes in the Northeastern United States: https://communityresilience-center.org/applied-research/
