Ithaca's Saint Catherine of Siena Church's community plans to demolish and rebuilt their Parish Center to increase their local congregation's participation in their Parish events. The new center will be constructed on the existing parking lot, West of the church's main building. It will accommodate a kitchen, conference rooms, bathrooms, classrooms, offices and a basement for utilities and storage purposes. The Church and Parish Center will be connected with a covered, handicapped-accessible ramp and small, gardened area. The design also includes exterior landscaping plans for the inclusion of new parking spaces, low garden walls, fruit trees, and two outdoor fountains .

Using an Health Impact Assessment - HIA - our team determined the health impact implications of the construction of this new Parish Center. The flow-chart below maps the direct, mediating, environmental/behavior, and long term health impacts associated to the project. Each impact was then further researched to dissolve any health conflicts within the design. Our team formally proposed all findings and design recommendations to better benefit the health of the surrounding community, environment, and parishioners. 

screening

A first step to any HIA, the team sought to determine if conducting an HIA would add value to the construction of the Saint Catherine of Siena Parish Center. The timeline was within reason, the stakeholders were committed to assisting us in our research and bettering the project in regards to promoting health, and there was very little risk associated to the project, thus the project passed all screening objectives. 

SCOPING

Taking the next step in the HIA, the team created the above Framework Pathway Diagram to demonstrate how proposed decisions would impact the all direct, mediating, environmental/behavior and long term health factors. We also proposed our assessment methods by means of literature reviews and interview important stakeholders.