Breathe Easy at Home: Partnering Housing Code Inspectors, Public Health and Medical Services for Children's Health

Background: Asthma is one of the leading causes of hospitalization and missed school days for children. Many environmental conditions, such as pest infestations, are housing code violations and have been linked with worse asthma in many children.

Objective: The Breathe Easy at Home program was begun in 2005 and created a web based referral system for office based pediatricians to refer families for housing code inspections directly from their office when housing conditions are suspected to make asthma worse.

Methods: Pediatricians from Boston Medical Center and Lawyers from the Medical Legal Partnership for Children partnered with a local community health center, Boston Urban Asthma Coalition, the Boston Public Heath Commission and Boston Inspectional Services Department to create a website linking pediatric offices with the Inspectional Services Department. Over a six month period, over 50 families have been referred to the program. Most cases resulted in violations being found and resolved after landlords were served with violation notices. Some cases were referred to housing court to be solved. Parents rated their child's asthma better after participation with the program.

Conclusions: Linking pediatricians with housing code inspectors, public health agencies and lawyers is a new and innovative way to address housing conditions as a trigger for children's asthma.