Repair a Home, Improve a Child's Health: CAPP+

The Community Asthma Prevention Program Plus (CAPP+) Home Repairs Program was created by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). It's an extension of the hospital's longstanding Community Asthma Prevention Program, which sends specially trained community health workers to the homes of children with tough-to-control asthma.

If they see that home repairs would reduce asthma triggers — irritants that can cause an asthma attack — the family may qualify for CAPP+. (Families must own their homes.) CAPP+ was developed in partnership with the city of Philadelphia. Renovations, often to repair water damage and eliminate the source of water, are coordinated by the Philadelphia Housing Development Corp. (PHDC). PHDC hires women- and minority-owned businesses to do the work, furthering CHOP’s goal of supporting an inclusive economy.

The goal is to repair up to 100 homes in West Philadelphia over the next five years. CAPP medical director Tyra Bryant-Stephens, MD, expects the home repairs to reduce the number of asthma-related Emergency Department visits and hospital stays for children who live in the repaired homes.