National Program Works Locally to Reduce In-Home Asthma Triggers

Green & Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI) is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to breaking the link between unhealthy housing and unhealthy families. GHHI will provide pro bono technical assistance to MCE (and others) to build and strengthen comprehensive asthma programs with environmental services benefiting low-income families across the US.

The Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, following a national competition, has awarded pro bono technical assistance to the Connecticut Department of Public Health (Hartford, CT), Keeping Families Healthy, Stony Brook University (Stony Brook, NY), MCE (Contra Costa County, CA), Memorial Hospital of South Bend (South Bend, IN), National Nurse-Led Care Consortium (Philadelphia, PA), and San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (San Antonio, TX) to facilitate and support either new or existing partnerships to build or expand the scope of asthma programs to include environmental health services as part of comprehensive care management of asthma.

GHHI is providing this technical assistance through an award from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Air and Radiation (OAR), Indoor Environments Division (IED) for the National Indoor Environments Program: Reducing Public Exposure to Indoor Pollutants.

Each of the projects will focus on providing comprehensive services to asthmatics in low-income communities. These services include home-based care and education as well as environmental remediation to address asthma triggers such as pests and mold. The goal of the programs is to achieve better health and quality of life outcomes for families while also lowering health care costs through the reduction of asthma-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations.

MCE brought the GHHI Marin collaborative in-house last year in order to spread the comprehensive program throughout its service area. With this new award, MCE is able to expand its energy efficiency and health efforts to address asthma, a priority health issue in Contra Costa County, in coordination with Contra Costa Health Services.

This work is one part of GHHI’s National Initiative for Asthma Reimbursement, which seeks to increase the number of quality comprehensive asthma programs while simultaneously working to increase the number of health plans serving Medicaid populations and/or state Medicaid programs that reimburse for these services.

Ruth Ann Norton, President and CEO of GHHI, stated, “We are delighted to welcome these organizations into our important work to build the path for reimbursement for evidenced-based housing interventions that improve health outcomes and are an integral part of health care.”

If you are interested in applying for Reimbursement Support Technical Assistance through the National Initiative for Asthma Reimbursement, applications are being accepted on a rolling basis. For more information, including the Request for Proposals, please visit: https://www.greenandhealthyhomes.org/services/national-initiative-for-asthma-reimbursement/

About the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative
The Green & Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI) is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to breaking the link between unhealthy housing and unhealthy families. Formerly known as the Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, GHHI provides evidence-based direct services and technical assistance to create healthy, safe, and energy efficient homes. GHHI’s end goal is to improve health, economic, and social outcomes for low-income families while reducing public and private healthcare costs. To learn more, please visit ghhi.org and follow us @HealthyHousing.

About the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Air and Radiation (ORA), Indoor Environments Division
ORA’s mission is to protect the public and the environment from the risks of radiation and indoor air pollution. The Office coordinates across the Agency and with other federal, state, tribal, and non-governmental organizations to carry out its mission. ORIA develops criteria, standards, guidance, policies, and programs to limit unnecessary radiation exposure and control exposure to indoor air pollutants, including asthma triggers.

Thank you to GHHI for permission to republish their press release.