Healthy Homes Program

Healthy Homes Program

The Healthy Homes Initiative is an integrated, comprehensive program that addresses the multiple of safety and health hazards that are found in the home environment. These home-based safety and health hazards include lead poisoning, severe asthma and allergy responses, carbon monoxide poisoning, radon, chemical sensitivities resulting from building product off-gassing, toxic poisoning from outdoor ground or air pollution and electrical, mechanical, and structural hazards due to improper maintenance.
The Healthy Homes Program will tell parents how to protect you and your children from household dangers. Learn about:

• Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention
• Control of Asthma and Allergies
• Hazardous Products
• Indoor Air Quality
• Mold
• Pests and Pesticides
• Creating a Safe Home

What is the Self Help, Inc. Healthy Homes Program?

This program provides families with the materials necessary to remediate dangers and educational information to help you improve the health of your home for your child with asthma, at-risk for asthma or other environmentally related diseases.

Who’s eligible?

If you have a child under 10 with (or at-risk for) asthma or who is at-risk for other environmentally related diseases or there are significant safety hazards in your home, you may be eligible for this free program for your family.

What can you expect?

Home visits and subsequent telephone calls will be provided by a Remediation/ Education Specialist and an Environmental Rehab Specialist. Additionally if your child has asthma or other diagnosed respiratory disease, she/he may be eligible for free consultation and health case management from a Registered Nurse at the Brockton Neighborhood Health Center. Based on your child’s needs and goals, we will develop an action plan for your family and home so that you can manage your child’s asthma in the best way possible. Your Healthy Homes team will work with you to make your home safer and healthier for your children. You and your team will see how well your child’s asthma is controlled and what asthma ‘triggers’ may exist in your home. To reach your health goals, we may give you information, referrals, allergen-free bed covers, minor home repairs, non-toxic cleaning supplies or other materials.

What will it cost?

All case management and education services are free to you if your family income is low to moderate. Supplies to correct minor environmental hazards will also be free to you and your family. If you are a homeowner or income property owner and if your home requires professional and/or extensive remediation you will be responsible for at least part of the cost. However you may be eligible for low/no interest loans or grants. Staff will Help you identify financial resources.

Healthy Homes Income Guidelines

Residents must meet income guidelines to participate in the Healthy Homes Program. Investor owners who rent to very low income eligible residents may be eligible for grants or loans to remediate enviornmental hazards in their income property. These loans are 5%, fully amortizing loans.

Our Partners:

Brockton Neighborhood Health Center

Brockton Neighborhood Health Center is a multicultural organization that collaborates with community agencies and residents to provide high quality comprehensive health care that is responsive to community health needs and is linguistically, culturally and financially accessible. We are committed to health promotion and disease prevention.

Through a partnerships with Brockton Neigborhood Health Center t he Brockton Neighborhood Health Center will hire a half time RN to provide medical case management to 50 children with asthma or other environmentally related diseases as well as community education. Based on your child’s needs and goals, she will develop an action plan for your family and home so that you can manage your child’s asthma in the best way possiblesponsive to community health needs and is linguistically, culturally and financially accessible. We areHealth Care of SE Mass.

Through a partnership with Health Care of Southeastern Mass, Self Help will train home visitors to do healthy home assessments and provide materials for remediation of home hazards.

Greater Brockton Healthy Families provides services in the following towns: Abington, Avon, Brockton, Bridgewater, East Bridgewater, Easton, Holbrook, Stoughton, West Bridgewater, and Whitman.  Multi-lingual staff provide services in Cape Verdean Creole, Haitian Creole, French, English, Portuguese and Spanish.

THE GOALS OF THE PROGRAM ARE TO:

Reach out to all families during pregnancy or around the time of birth, and offer services based on family needs and strengths.  Our goal is to support families by:

• Building trusting  relationships
• Teaching problem solving skills
• Improving the family’s support system
• Nurturing positive parent child relationships
• Promoting healthy childhood growth and development

Brockton Promise Alliance for Youth

The Healthy Homes Program through a partnership with the City of Brockton’s Promise Alliance for Youth Program, specifically, through their Healthy Start Promise Team, will provide up to 10 Promise Youth with part-time stipend volunteer experience during the summer months, assessing homes and installing safety devises to keep infants and toddlers safe from accidents, fire alarms and carbon monoxide alarms and other devises to reduce environmental hazards. Brockton ‘s Promise builds on this mission locally by promoting a climate of unity and partnership that enlists the motivated, concerned, and diverse people of Brockton to mobilize support from all sectors of the community in order to develop the character and competence of our young people by fulfilling the Five Promises.

Here are some tips for making your home a

HEALTHY HOME!

In the Kitchen

• Keep knives, plastic bags, lighters, and
  matches locked away from children.
• Avoid fires and burns by never leaving
  cooking food unattended, turning pot
  handles to the back of the stove, and
  keeping hot liquids and foods away from the
  edges of tables and counters.
• Make sure you and your children know the
  STOP, DROP, and ROLL procedure in
  case their clothes catch on fire.
• Keep appliance cords unplugged and tied
  up. Replace any frayed cords and wires.
• Securely strap young children in high chairs,
  swings, and other juvenile products.
• Do not give young children hard, round
  foods that can get stuck in their throats —
  like hard candies, nuts, grapes, popcorn,
  carrots, and raisins.
• Avoid scald burns by keeping children away
  from the hot water taps on drinking water
  coolers.

In the Bedroom

Install smoke alarms outside bedrooms and
on every level of the home. For added
protection, consider installing smoke alarms
in each bedroom. Test them at least once a
month and change batteries at least once a
year.

• Practice fire escape routes and identify an
  outside meeting place.
• Place a baby to sleep on his or her back in
  a crib with no pillows or soft bedding
  underneath.
• Use a crib that meets national safety
  standards and has a snug-fitting mattress.
• Never use an electric blanket in the bed or
  crib of a small child or infant.
• Keep small toys, balloons, and small balls
  away from young children.
• Check age labels for appropriate toys.
  Make sure toy storage chests have safety
  lid supports.
• To prevent strangulation, use safety tassels
  for miniblinds and avoid strings on children’s
  toys and pacifiers
• .Install carbon monoxide (CO) alarms
  outside bedrooms to prevent CO poisoning.

In the Bathroom

• To prevent poisonings, lock away all
  medicines and vitamins, even those with
  child-resistant packaging.
• Have syrup of ipecac on hand, but use only
  at the recommendation of a poison control
  center or physician.
• Never leave a young child alone in the
  bathroom, especially in a bath.
• Before bathing a child, always test bath
  water with your wrist or elbow to make sure
  it’s not too hot.
• To prevent scalds, set the water heater
  thermostat to 120º F and install anti-scald
  devices.
• Make sure bathtubs and showers have
  non-slip surfaces and grab bars.
• Keep electrical appliances, like hair dryers
  and curling irons, out of the reach of
  children and away from water.

All Living Areas:

• To prevent asthma attacks, eliminate sources of mold, dust, and insects, such as cockroaches. If you have a pet, keep it and its bedding clean and keep the pet off the furniture.
• If you must smoke, avoid smoking in the house, and especially around children.
• Make sure furnaces, fireplaces, wood-burning stoves, space heaters, and gas appliances are vented properly and
  inspected annually.
• Use safety gates to block stairways (and other danger areas), safety plugs to cover electrical outlets, and safety latches for
  drawers and cabinets.
• Keep children — and the furniture they can climb on — away from windows. Install window guards (on windows that are
  not fire emergency exits).
• To prevent falls, keep hallways and stairways well-lit and use non-slip backing for area rugs.
• Keep cleaning solutions, pesticides, and other potentially dangerous substances in their original, labeled containers, and out of the reach of children.
• Test homes built before 1978 for lead paint. Call 1-508-588-0447 for certified inspectors. Ask your doctor or health
  department if your child should be tested for lead.
• If you have guns or rifles in your home, store the firearms and ammunition in separate containers and lock them out of
  the reach of children.
• Learn First Aid and Cardiopulmonary
  Resuscitation(CPR).
• Keep an updated list of emergency telephone numbers, including your local poison control center, physician and hospital emergency room, next to every phone in
  your home.
• Have your home tested for radon. If levels are above EPA’s recommended level, call 1-800-557-2366 to find out about ways to reduce the levels.
• Make sure your family knows what to do during a natural disaster. In an earthquake, drop to the floor and get under something sturdy for cover; during a tornado, take shelter in a basement or an interior room without windows; and during a hurricane stay away from windows. Have handy supplies of food, flashlights, and water.