Revitalize Community Development Corporation Announced as Maura C. McCaffrey Where Health Matters Grant Recipient
Posted on May 6, 2019
On January 11, 2019, Health New England hosted its inaugural Where Health Matters grant announcement event and awarded four organizations a $50,000 grant to fund an innovative community based program. Each grant program concentrated on one of four focus areas: chronic diseases, food insecurities, infant/maternal health and mental health/substance use disorder.
Revitalize Community Development Corporation (RCDC) of Springfield, Massachusetts, was awarded the Maura C. McCaffrey Where Health Matters grant for their program to assist seniors living with asthma in Springfield-area unhealthy homes. Their program, Doorway to Accessible, Safe & Healthy Homes, seeks to address poor housing conditions affecting elderly asthma health, in support of the chronic disease health focus area.
The Asthma and Allergy Foundation cites the Springfield area as the number one most challenging place to live with asthma nationally. Both the cities of Springfield and Holyoke have aging house stock, with approximately 40 percent of homes built prior to 1940 and 86 percent built prior to 1980. These older homes are known to have issues with excess moisture, mold, pest and other triggers that lead to asthma, especially amongst older adults (65+). In Springfield, the 5-year asthma prevalence in this population is 11.6 – 50 percent higher than the national average, and 38 percent higher than the Commonwealth’s average. Health New England’s grant funding will allow RCDC to provide home health assessments for twenty additional families.
RCDC will work closely with community partners to address housing as a social determinant of asthma health. Baystate Geriatric Services will refer high-risk elderly patients with asthma and provide a community health worker to conduct asthma management education to these individuals. Additionally, the Pioneer Valley Asthma Coalition will provide asthma education to patients, as well as adaptive asthma-related materials, supplies and equipment to elderly patients. Other organizations RDCD partners with include The Public Health Institute of Western Mass, Green and Healthy Homes Initiative, and Baystate Health’s Better Together initiative. These well-established partnerships and collaborations have aided the organization in repairing and rehabilitating more than 700 Springfield and Holyoke homes since their inception in 1992.
Thank you, Revitalize Community Development Corporation, for your hard work to make meaningful improvements to the homes and health of those living in the greater Springfield area.
Comments are currently closed.