The Case
Lehman Houses Asthma and Pest Management Project
Two very common "triggers" for asthma attacks are cockroaches and
mice. In East Harlem, New York, public health experts estimate that one of every
four children and thousands of adults have asthma. The New York City Health
Department, the New York City Housing Authority, the Center for Occupational and
Environmental Health at Hunter College, and the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency have teamed up with the residents of Lehman Houses Village in East Harlem
to beat asthma by eliminating environmental causes.
The Lehman Houses Asthma and Pest Management project hopes to reduce the
cockroach and mice population, show a decline in pesticide use by residents and
management, and ultimately develop protocols and techniques that are replicable
in other public housing developments. Their strategies include resident
education, apartment inspections and pest proofing, building and grounds
inspections, resident surveys, and scientific sampling to measure pest
populations. This intervention phase will last for six months and will be
followed up by a period of data analysis and evaluation.
The New York City Childhood Asthma Initiative
The project in Lehman Houses Village is part of The New York City Childhood
Asthma Initiative (NYCCAI), a public health effort to reduce asthma morbidity in
children 0-18. Expected outcomes include reductions in hospitalizations,
emergency department visits and school absences due to asthma as well as
improvements in managing childhood asthma among families. The NYCCAI is building
on existing research, educational and clinical efforts, resulting in a
coordinated and comprehensive effort to understand, treat and prevent asthma in
New York City.
The NYCCAI is currently working to:
- Improve family management of asthma
- Promote state-of-the-art medical diagnosis and treatment
- Reduce exposure to asthma triggers in homes and communities
- Monitor and track the number of children with asthma
- Increase coordination among families, schools, day care centers, medical
providers, pharmacists, community based organizations, housing agencies,
managed care organizations and others.
THE NYCCAI encompasses both citywide and community based interventions.
Citywide activities include:
- A media campaign emphasizing that asthma can be well-managed
- A medical provider education program aimed at improving diagnosis and
management practices among physicians
- Development of low-literacy and multilingual asthma education materials
for families
- Support for Open Airways, a school-based curriculum for children
with asthma
- Training programs for school and after-school program personnel on
asthma, including how to better serve asthmatic children
- Collaborations with a variety of city agencies - the New York City
Housing Authority, the New York City Department of Youth and Community
Development, the New York City Department of Homeless Services, the New
York City Board of Education, the New York City Health and Hospitals
Corporation and others - to better coordinate, improve and
standardize the care provided to asthmatic children
- Conferences for nurses, social workers and other health professionals on
state of the art asthma management
Community-based activities targeting high risk neighborhoods in all five
boroughs are emphasizing the development of local asthma partnerships to
implement community interventions. These interventions include: health education
activities directed at asthmatic children and their caregivers; case management
services that include educating families about asthma and its management,
conducting home visits to identify asthma allergens and facilitate remediation,
and linking families to primary care; and asthma management activities involving
medical providers, housing organizations, day care centers, schools and others.
Finally, the NYCCAI is conducting asthma surveillance and evaluation
activities. These include collecting and analyzing hospital discharge and
mortality data, developing innovative strategies for monitoring emergency
department visits and determining asthma prevalence, and evaluating the
effectiveness of NYCCAI efforts.
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