HEALTH - COMMUNITY - OUTREACH

HEALTH IMPACT ASSESSMENT

REPORT
Saint Catherine of Siena Parish Center | Ithaca, NY
Cornell University | DEA 2700 Healthy Places: Design, Planning and Public Health | Fall 2015
France Atkins, Josh Beinhacker, Victoria Phillips, Janay Saunders, Andrea Scheuchzer

+ AGENDA

+ INTRODUCT ION
+ SCREENING
+ SCOPING
+ A SSESSMENT
+ RECOMMENDAT IONS

+ INTRODUCTION
Summary
Ithacas Saint Catherine of Siena Church
community plans tto demolish and rebuild
their Parish Center.

Current Parish Center

Main Church

- 10,811 sq. foot

- 583 families affiliated with the church
- ~672 persons attending mass regularly
- Additional 18 baptisms, 8 marriages, and
9 funerals held within the Church facilities

Existing Site

Limitations
- Time constraints

- Unable to establish strong relationships with

stakeholders to better reach Parishioners

Main Church

- Small percentage of interview participants, thus

decreasing the strength of recommendations
Proposed Site

+ SCREENING
A Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a way of measuring potential health determinants through a combination
of procedures and methods. HIAs assess a policy change, construction, or any other project methods, and
tools that could affect a group, or subgroup of people both positively and negatively (Health Impact Assessment).

1. Timeline

- The initiative began in 2010

- Current phase - Memo Review,
the Town of Ithaca Planning Board
- 6 month minimum time-frame until
construction

2. Committed Stakeholders
Christine Balestra, Town of Ithaca Planner

Father Joseph Marcoux, St. Catherine of Siena Pastor

Marianella Casasola, St. Catherine of Siena Parishioner

+ SCREENING
3. Receptive Audience
- The parish community is a vibrant Catholic
community where all are welcome, challenged,
and supported in their lifes journey.
- Diverse set of groups and organizations
for the parishioners to partake
- Book club
- Mens group
- Music ministry
4. New Perspective
- Current project focus is to update facilities

+ SCREENING
5. Health Risks and Benefits
Factor

+ SCOPING

Framework

Assessment
Methods

- Literature Reviews

- Parishioner Interview

+ ASSESSMENT
Health Outcome 1: Increase in community and educational spaces, and the
addition of a walkways connection will result in an increase in social capital.
-

Religious affiliations and church attendance improve physical and psychological

health across multiple religions and populations (Campbell et al, 2006)
-

Inclusiveness

Common values and mission

Accessibility to community and educational opportunities

+ ASSESSMENT
Health Outcome 2: The increase in participation in church activities is associated

to higher and more frequent noise disturbances that would create an annoyance
and acute stress for church neighbors.
-

Acoustic annoyances are sound level, frequency, duration, etc.

There is a relationship between noise level and annoyance ratings (Sanders and McCormick, 1993)
-

St Catherines annoyances are attributed to churchs activities, bells, traffic, etc.

Annoyance rating = -4.789 + 0.106dBA (Lehto and Landry, 2013)

- In this case, annoyance rating is 2.6 (slightly to moderately annoying)

Strong relationship to long term acute stress

+ RECOMMENDATIONS
RECOMMENDATION 1: Reach out to the greater Ithaca area to promote
multiple uses of the new Parish Center to increase social capital opportunities.
-

Provide educational opportunities for adolescents

Open the center to outside organizations, such as substance abuse support groups

Have religious leaders represent the church within a public arena

+ RECOMMENDATIONS
RECOMMENDATION 2: Use landscaping design as a method to mitigate noise annoyances
by placing absorbing materials and plants around the parking space, parish and church.
-

Control noise during the Parishs high occupancy events (mass)

Transmission of sound influenced by temperature gradients, wind and relative humidity

Materials and plants, such as shrubby trees, can absorb sound and decrease
the intensity of sound that reaches neighbors

THANK YOU!
Acknowledgments
Professor Wells, Kristin Aldred Cheek, Marlana Zink
Christine Balestra, Joe Marcoux, Professor Casasola