Asthma Home Management Program

The Asthma Home Management Program is an in-home asthma intervention program, which provides education to children and their families about asthma management in the cities of New Brunswick, Plainfield, and Perth Amboy. The goal of the program is to decrease asthma hospitalization and ER visits by educating children and families about asthma self management and ways to identify and reduce environmental triggers in the home.

Components of the Program
• Monthly Home-Visits
• Asthma Education
• Identification and Reduction of Home Triggers (dust, clutter, Tobacco smoke)
• Provision of household cleaning supplies such as mattress/pillow encasings
• Referrals to social services

Current Activities
The Family Support Workers conduct initial visits with each of the families to assess asthma knowledge and environmental triggers. The workers will continue to visit each family once a month for a period of one year. At each visit the child is tracked for hospital and/or emergency room admissions, medicine use, and home environmental conditions.

Outcome Measures
Specific outcome measures will be reported at 6 months and 12 months into the program. Measurement tools used by the program include: child intake forms, American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology - Life Quality Test, National Health, Lung, and Blood Institute Health- Asthma IQ test, and client satisfaction survey. The client intake forms track the following:

• # Hospitalizations
• # Doctor visits and ER visits
• # Well child visits/#asthma specialist visits
• # Missed school days
• # Missed work days
• # Taking a control medication
• Pre/post home assessment questionnaire

We currently have collaborative agreements with the Plainfield Health Center, Eric B. Chandler and other pediatric providers in the area. Presentations are conducted for child care centers, school nurses and parents as requested.