Asthma, Healthy Homes, Wx + Health, & Repair

Submitted by TFF@ECA on 25 May 2016 - 3:17pm

The Energy Coordinating Agency of Philadelphia is becoming increasingly interested in Wx+Health programming that integrates repairs, treatments of health threats, and other services outside the scope of our energy retrofits.

@Dr.AndreaGelzer: Is Amerihealth Caritas currently partnered with Wx Providers in other states? Either way- who would be best to follow up with and approach for partnered programming in Philadelphia and provision of Healthy Homes services? ECA currently has to reject an all-too-large percentage of our weatherization applicants specifically for home health threats beyond the scope of our DOE WAP programming.

@BradleyKramer: How did you initially develop the partnerships between CHW organizations and Wx providers? How were they connected to the health provider system, able to add information about mold and other issues to patient files? Was there a reciprocal connection to inform Wx providers about health-related threat mitigation in the home?

 

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jkrieger

25 May 2016 - 3:22pm

Here is a paper that described the program in King County. For details, suggest connecting with our partner the King County Housing Authority.(Joel Gregory - Joelg@kcha.org).

Objectives. We assessed the benefits of adding weatherization-plus-health interventions
to an in-home, community health worker (CHW) education program
on asthma control.
Methods. Weused a quasi-experimental design to compare study group homes
(n = 34) receiving CHW education and weatherization-plus-health structural interventions
with historical comparison group homes (n = 68) receiving only education.
Data were collected in King County, Washington, from October 2009 to
September 2010.
Results. Over the 1-year study period, the percentage of study group children
with not-well-controlled or very poorly controlled asthma decreased more than
the comparison group percentage (100% to 28.8% vs 100% to 51.6%; P = .04).
Study group caregiver quality-of-life improvements exceeded comparison group
improvements (P = .002) by 0.7 units, a clinically important difference. The decrease
in study home asthma triggers (evidence of mold, water damage, pests,
smoking) was marginally greater than the comparison group decrease (P = .089).
Except for mouse allergen, the percentage of study group allergen floor dust
samples at or above the detection limit decreased, although most reductions
were not statistically significant.
Conclusions. Combining weatherization and healthy home interventions (e.g.,
improved ventilation, moisture and mold reduction, carpet replacement, and
plumbing repairs) with CHW asthma education significantly improves childhood
asthma control. (Am J Public Health. 2013;104:e57–e64. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2013.
301402)

TFF@ECA

25 May 2016 - 3:25pm

What an excellent study! Many thanks!