The All Baby Healthy Home Initiative’s goal is to identify environmental hazards in the home that might negatively impact health, reduce hospitals admissions to related unhealthy homes and increase environmental awareness of health factors impacting the health and wellbeing in the Wabash Valley. This pilot program specifically targets homes with pregnant women and children through 18 months of age. According to the E.P.A., children are often more vulnerable to pollutants than adults due to differences in behavior and biology, this can lead to greater exposure and/or unique windows of susceptibility during development.
“Home environment can directly and indirectly impact our health and wellbeing,” said Matthew Herrick, program manager, West Central Indiana Healthy Start. “The All Babies Healthy Homes Initiative will look beyond the walls of a clinic or hospital to identify risk factors associated with negative health outcomes. Our comprehensive approach will focus on housing-related hazards in a coordinated effort, rather than addressing one hazard at a time.”
Globally, an estimated 24% of the burden of disease and 23% of all deaths can be attributed to environmental factors. The All Babies Healthy Homes Initiative will leverage existing home-visit programs to provide environmental health assessments and interventions to 150 under-resourced families and reduce negative environmental risk factors including: mold, lead, allergens, asthma, carbon monoxide, home safety, and pesticides. Additionally, this project will engage 150 interprofessional teams of healthcare providers to create and conduct continuing medical education sessions that promote and share information about in-home environmental health hazards that increase vulnerability.
“The Foundation’s mission is to improve health and wellness in the Wabash Valley, and the best way to improve lifetime health is at the very beginning stages of life,” said Joel Harbaugh, executive director. “Through the generosity of our donors, we have funded several programs and services to proactively advance the health of our community. This federal grant demonstrates the value of those efforts and builds on the important groundwork accomplished thus far.”
For information on the Healthy Homes Initiative and other programs available through All Babies Initiative, visit www.allbabies.org/