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James W Krieger, MD MPH, Public Health-Seattle & King County and University of Washington Schools of Public health and Medicine, 999 Third Ave., Suite 1200, Seattle, WA 98104, 206-296-6817, James.krieger@metrokc.gov and Tim K Takaro, MD, MPH, MS, Occupational & Environmental Medicine Program, University of Washington, 4225 Roosvelt Way NE, Suite 100, Seattle, WA 98115.
In 1998, Public Health: Seattle & King County (PHSKC) documented an increasing rate of pediatric asthma hospitalizations and a 3.5-fold higher rate among children living in high vs. low poverty neighborhoods. These findings, reinforced by national trends, generated significant local attention and helped make asthma a priority public health issue.
In response to these data, PHSKC developed the Healthy Homes Project in which community health workers worked with households with asthmatic children to reduce exposure to indoor asthma triggers. The project reduced asthma morbidity and changed behaviors, but found many homes had structural conditions associated with trigger exposure which could not be addressed solely through behavior change: 79% of children’s bedrooms had carpet, 28% had no working bathroom fan and 21% had leaks or water damage. These data led us to review building code with the goal of incorporating healthy homes provisions. We also implemented the Better Homes for Asthma project which completes repairs to reduce triggers at no cost to the homeowner.
The Seattle Housing Authority learned of these findings and initiated a partnership with PHSKC to incorporate healthy homes building specifications into the redevelopment of a 1600 unit public housing site. Local and national data describing the growing prevalence of obesity resulted in inclusion of features to promote physical activity, including pedestrian-friendly traffic patterns and walking trails. Awareness of data showing the importance of community cohesion and social interaction led to involvement of residents in planning social spaces and the development of community action teams build community.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Housing, Data/Surveillance
Related Web page: www.metrokc.gov/health/asthma/healthyhomes/
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.