Healthy Home Principles and Assessment Practice for Health Educators and Community Workers

This two-day training course is ideal for community health workers and other health educators and home visitors. The training will help you understand the connection between health and housing, learn the eight healthy home principles, and how to assess for and prioritize basic housing hazards and educate home occupants on practical solutions. The goal of healthy homes training is to take a holistic approach to identify and resolve problems that threaten the health and wellbeing of residents. This course includes emphasis on the best practices for environmental management of asthma.

Target audience

Community health workers and advocates, case workers, housing professionals, community leaders, social workers, health educators, public health nurses, asthma educators, community action agency staff and anyone who visits and provides in-home education about environmental health and safety concerns.

What you'll learn

Participants will learn the connection between health and housing and the importance of thinking more comprehensively about home environments. Students will learn effective strategies and actions for each of the healthy home principles including Clean, Dry, Pest-free, Contaminant-free, Safe, Ventilated, Comfortable and Maintained. We will discuss the latest knowledge about how to manage health and safety hazards, how to collect an environmental history from a client, and how to communicate and educate about healthy home concerns. The course includes a practice home assessment and interactive, hands-on exercises.

Registration

This course is offered both virtually through the Zoom online platform and in-person. There is a cost for course manual and educational materials, but these costs may be covered for students through grant support depending on the class. Check the course calendar for details.

Please contact Kevin Kennedy at kkennedy@cmh.edu for more information.