Delaware Housing Stakeholders Collaboration Celebrates Work to Improve Health

(l to r) Nemours Foundation Program & Policy Analyst Troy Hazzard, HUD Delaware Field Office Director Maria Bynum, Nemours Health & Prevention Service Operational Vice President Mary Kate Mouser, HUD Region III Healthy Homes Representative Ed Thomas and HUD Region III Regional Administrator Jane C.W. Vincent

Delaware State Housing Authority team is recognized for their good work promoting Healthy Homes cleaning strategies.

On May 20, 2015, local, state and federal officials gathered to celebrate individuals and organizations committed to improve housing conditions for Delaware children with asthma. Delaware Governor Jack Markell and Delaware State Housing Authority Director Anas Ben Addi were joined by U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development Region III Regional Administrator Jane C.W. Vincent and Matthew Ammon, Director, Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, among others, to recognize the contributions of key groups involved with the Delaware Housing Stakeholders Collaboration's 'Healthy Homes' pilot initiative. Launched in October 2014, the initiative aims to improve health outcomes for children with asthma by reducing asthma triggers in public and multifamily housing and promoting safer and healthier home environments. As part of the program, residents who attended Healthy Homes training received a basket of environmentally friendly and safe cleaning products that aren't detrimental to the health of children with asthma.

The Healthy Homes pilot is supported by an innovation award Nemours received from the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Innovation to support new approaches to integrating medical care and population health. In Delaware the asthma prevalence is 12%; nationally, only the District of Columbia has a higher prevalence of asthma according to the National Survey of Children's Health (http://childhealthdata.org/browse/survey
/results?q=2400&r=1&r2=9). The Healthy Homes pilot targets six zip codes with the highest asthma prevalence among kids: 19801, 19802, 19901, 19904, 19956 and 19973.

"At one of the early meetings of this partnership, I learned about children who end up in the emergency room instead of his or her classroom because of an asthma attack," stated Regional Administrator Vincent in her remarks. "For Delaware to have the second highest incidence of childhood asthma in the country at 12 percent-clearly illustrates the need for programs like yours." The goal of the partners involved in the effort is to continue to expand upon the work that was started during the Healthy Homes pilot program in most of Delaware's public housing communities. The Delaware State, Dover, New Castle County, Newark and Wilmington Housing Authorities, along with several individuals including HUD's Maria Bynum and Ed Thomas, were among those recognized for their participation in the collaborative effort. For more photos from the event, visit HUD's Flickr site (https://www.flickr.com/photos/hudopa/sets/72157653256490791/).

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