THE THRESHOLD
February 2000
At Home with the National Office
Today, I'm putting the finishing touches on our newest resource to add to the Home*A*Syst
library. Help Yourself to a Healthy Home: Protect Your Children's Health will be
published in March and highlighted at the national Healthy Homes Satellite Video Conference
March 29, 2000. This guidebook and web resource was prepared with support from the United
States Department of Housing and Urban Development and USDA Cooperative State Research
Education and Extension Service as part of their Healthy Homes Initiative.
What is Help Yourself to a Healthy Home? It is a new version of Home*A*Syst that
focuses specifically on children's health risks in five areas:
- Indoor Air Quality
- Pesticides
- Drinking Water Quality
- Lead
- Hazardous Household Products
The original chapters have been modified with help from the authors, and the drinking water
chapter now covers public and private water supplies. Each chapter of the new publication is a
shorter and simpler version of the original. For example, there are questions to help an individual
evaluate risk, but not assessment tables. The language is now at a sixth-grade reading level, to
be suitable for individuals with lower literacy. The tool will be available to Home*A*Syst state
coordinators--you'll be able to use it just as you do the Home*A*Syst national publication. You may
download it from the links above. And registrants of the Healthy Homes Satellite Conference will be
sent a copy. Stay tuned!
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FOCUS ON THE STATES
Montana Delivers Home*A*Syst through Realtor Training:
Realtors can earn continuing education credits by taking Montana Home*A*Syst's "Real Estate
Environmental Issues for Small Landowner Properties." The course is approved by the Montana Board of
Realty Regulation.
The course is offered in a three-hour or four-hour format. The extra time in the four-hour course
adds a summary of environmental law. According to Vogel, four hours total is not a very long time--it
could easily be a week-long course. The issue is how much time Realtors are willing to devote. More
than four hours is too much.
The course deals with disclosures and what they mean for the buyer and for the seller. "Does the
Real Estate person have enough background to look these kinds of [environmental risks], so that they
as an agent would not be liable for not disclosing something just totally out of ignorance? Or do they
know enough about the property to say, 'I think we'd better bring someone in to take a look at this'?"
Vogel says there are also a number of things that Realtors must look at according to the law, such
as radon and lead disclosures.
"We do zoom in on those kinds of things, but we also look at wells and septics and so forth," he
points out. "Where there are elements in the listing agreement that the well must be tested for quality
of water, it's a real nice opportunity to talk about problems and potential contamination."
Vogel says they have had very good attendance and excellent follow-up from the people who have
attended.
For more information, contact Mike Vogel, 109 Taylor Hall, P O Box 173120, Bozeman, MT 59717,
Phone: 406-994-3451, Fax: 406-994-5417, E-mail: mvogel@montana.edu
Back to Home*A*Syst
© 2000 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. UW-Extension
provides equal opportunities in employment and programming, including Title IX requirements.
UW-Extension programs are open to all persons without regard to race, color, ethnic background, or
economic circumstances. All rights reserved.
Comments may be directed to Kadi Row, krow@facstaff.wisc.edu.
Created by Janice Kepka, jkepka@facstaff.wisc.edu.
