The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #49209

Tyra Bryant-Stephens, MD, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 39th & Chestneu Streets, Suite 120, St. Leonard's Court, Philadelphia, PA 19104, 215-590-5020, stephenst@email.chop.edu

Despite the development of new asthma medicines and treatment, asthma morbidity continues to rise. This is especially true for the urban, poor, minority population. Other modalities of intervention must be explored to prevent the rise in asthma morbidity. Studies have demonstrated that asthma education improves the asthmatic's disease progression. Studies have also demonstrated that removal of common indoor asthma triggers leads to a reduction in inpatient visits and use of rescue medications. Presently the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Community Asthma Prevention Program (CAPP) has two separate well-established programs: a community asthma education program and a unique home environmental mitigation program for the patients in the Children's Hospital Primary Care Centers. The community asthma education five-week class series has proven to be highly effective in educating parents and children in a community setting. Additionally, the Home Visitor program is effective in removing asthma environmental triggers in the home. The broad, long-term objective is to reduce the morbidity associated with environmentally-triggered asthma in urban, economically disadvantaged communities. This is accomplished through partnership of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Primary Care practices with the community-based Children's Services Inc, (CSI) Family Centers and environmental scientists at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania (E&ES). This paper will discuss the process of building these partnerships and developing a community-based education program.

Learning Objectives: Objectives

1.Expose participants to the process of building community and research partners for improved environmental health.
• Discuss and evaluate the success of such partnership models.
• Identify future course of action.

Keywords: Environmental Justice, Asthma

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.