Illinois Asthma Home Assessments

Background: The Community Health Needs Assessment identified pediatric asthma as a problem disproportionally impacting children on the East side of Springfield.  A community based approach using community health workers and home visits was developed to reduce Emergency Room visits due to uncontrolled asthma.

Project Lead: Carolyn Pointer, JD

OPSP Team Members: Arden Caffrey, Sameer Vohra, Amanda Fogleman, and Georgia Luckey. Outside of OPSP, Patrice Jones from SIU Office of Regional Programs is also working with this program.

Collaborators: HSHS St. John's Office of Community Benefits, led by Kim Luz and Megan Williams, the Springfield ​Community Federation, led by Alissa Hall, and Community Health Worker Marcy Marcus.

Goals: Our goal is to help families in East Springfield reduce in-home triggers for asthma, and provide education for parents of children with asthma. We hope this combination of education, about asthma basics, medication management, and trigger reduction, will reduce the number of ER visits resulting from uncontrolled pediatric asthma.

Findings: Our project's data collection is currently under way, and we hope to have preliminary data in the next six months.