NADD - An association for persons with developmental disabilities and mental health needs

From the NADD Bulletin Volume XII Number 1

A Model Healthy Home

Katrina Smith Korfmacher, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Environmental Health Sciences Center, University of Rochester

The Healthy Home is a unique "hands on" model residence and interactive museum that was created to help people understand and reduce environmental health hazards that may lurk in their homes. The Healthy Home grew out of a community-based effort to reduce lead poisoning in Rochester, NY (www.leadsafeby2010.org). Community groups observed that many people, especially residents of high-risk low income housing, were more likely to address environmental hazards if they had hands-on demonstrations of solutions, rather than just written materials. They also noted that in addition to lead hazards, there are many potential health threats in homes, including asthma triggers like mold and indoor tobacco smoke, toxic chemicals, and unintentional injury risks.

Environmental hazards in the home can contribute significantly to disease. These hazards often affect low income, urban, and minority children who live in older housing in poor condition. The Healthy Home was created to help educate and motivate diverse audiences to reduce such health risks in housing. The Healthy Home provides renters, landlords, homeowners, contractors, students, community groups, and others with hands-on demonstrations of effective, low-cost lead hazard control measures and ways to address other environmental health threats.

The Healthy Home grew out of a partnership between the SouthWest Area Neighborhood Association (SWAN), the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC), and the Rochester Fatherhood Resource Initiative. After several years of planning, these partners were able to raise funds to rent space in the first floor of a large home in Southwest Rochester that was built in 1893. While large enough to accommodate touring groups, the building looks like a residence, so it is easy for visitors to see how displays may relate to their own homes. The Healthy Home opened to the public in 2006.

For each of the substantive topics addressed by the Healthy Home (asthma triggers, lead hazards, household chemicals, indoor air quality hazards, etc.), the partners developed highly visual, low-reading level posters summarizing the source of the hazard, related health impacts, and potential solutions. They then designed hands-on displays to show how to reduce these hazards. For example, the "asthma safe bedroom" includes a bed with mattress covers to control dust mites, a "healthy housekeeping" station, materials on community resources for smoking cessation, and examples of asthma triggers like pets, stuffed toys, and plants. The "lead room" includes three display windows mounted on stands that demonstrate three different techniques for addressing lead hazards in older windows. The kitchen features examples of household chemicals that could be hazardous, suggestions on safely storing and using these chemicals, and information about integrated pest management techniques. Throughout the house, wall signs point out potential carbon monoxide sources, accidental injury hazards, and other potential safety hazards.

The Healthy Home is supported by grant funding and is administered by the South West Neighborhood Association (SWAN). A full-time program manager recruits visitors, interacts with other community organizations, coordinates project partners, and provides individualized tours to visitors.

The home has also become an informal 'hub' for community and health organizations such as the Regional Community Asthma Network, SWAN's summer camps, the Children's Environmental Health Center, and the Injury Free Coalition for Kids. On any given day, one can find groups of school children, members of a neighborhood association, contractors, or medical students gathered in the home to learn about asthma triggers, home safety, or healthy foods. Recent new initiatives included partnerships to provide nutrition and obesity prevention education, a county-funded program that provides job placements for people receiving welfare benefits, and a camp project that helped children identify and teach their parents about potential hazards in their own homes.

Although the Healthy Home's messages are targeted at low-income residents of Rochester, it attracts a wide range of visitors. For example, a day program for adults with developmental disabilities visited the Healthy Home for a series of hands-on activities including safe food preparation and making non-toxic cleaning solutions. Girl Scout troops from suburban towns have toured the home. An environmental consultant ran a worker safety workshop at the Healthy Home, including fitting contractors with respirators and testing their blood for lead. Students ranging from elementary school students to medical students regularly visit the Healthy Home. In total, around 2000 people visited the Healthy Home in its first two years in operation.

The Healthy Home has been very effective in encouraging visitors to reduce home hazards. Visitor evaluation surveys and follow-up calls indicate that the majority of visitors do in fact take steps to address environmental hazards in their own homes after visiting the Healthy Home. One of the most promising developments is the expansion of the Healthy Home Advisory Council. The Council consists of around thirty local community, government, and health interest groups. These groups refer visitors to the Healthy Home, but also incorporate what they learn at the Healthy Home into their ongoing programs.

The project has attracted the interest of groups from many other communities across the region and the country. Healthy Home partners have drafted a "Guide to Replication" to help these groups create their own displays to educate people about home environmental health hazards in other communities (http://www2.envmed.rochester.edu/envmed/ehsc/outreach/coec/news.html). This guide provides advice on how to incorporate the "hands-on" approach of Rochester's Healthy Home to other settings depending on resources, issues of concern, and key audiences. Health educators often note that it is difficult to get people to change their behaviors and home environments to prevent health problems. The hands-on, community-based educational approach of the Healthy Home provides a model that appears to be effective for a wide range of audiences.

For further information, contact Dr. Korfmacher at Katrina_Korfmacher@URMC.Rochester.edu or you may contact the Healthy Home program manager directly at healthyhomerochester@gmail.com.

The NADD Environmental Health Project, funded by the John Merck Fund, provides professionals, families, and the general public with relevant information concerning toxic agents and their affects on neuro-development. For further information visit www.thenadd.org and click on "Environmental Health Project," or contact Ed Seliger, Project Coordinator, at eseliger@thenadd.org.