New Report: Community Health Workers Combat Asthma
LSA and the New York Academy of Medicine Report on an Innovative Approach to Reducing Childhood Asthma Symptoms
September 2017 — A new report from the Academy and Little Sisters of the Assumption Family Health Service focuses on an innovative Community Health Worker (CHW) program which assists low-income families in addressing conditions that exacerbate childhood asthma. It describes program services and their impact from the perspective of participants, who note the importance of education, skill-building and advocacy for addressing unhealthy housing conditions.
The CHWs in our Environmental Health program are a first line of defense in health care. As described in this report, CHWs helped families to develop knowledge and skills to reduce household asthma triggers; in addition, CHWs and became important advocates, helping families to settle of complaints with housing management.
As a result of LSA’s innovative approach to community health, 80% of school children in the program had fewer or no urgent care or emergency room visits as a result of asthma.
The findings and recommendations offer useful insights for modeling similar programs in cities nationwide.
Lead authors Linda Weiss, PhD, and Ray Lopez are available for interviews or background. Media contact: Asari Beale, LSA Family Health Service, 646-672-5200.