islesWorks - January Edition

Fostering self-reliant families and healthy, sustainable communities.

January 2021

Dear Friend,

A lot of ideas here at Isles start with, “What if we could…?”

One important question for our energy and environmental health services was, “What if we could combine housing health assessments with lead remediation and energy efficiency? How would we do that?”

The “why” is obvious, given the age and condition of Trenton housing. It’s some of the oldest in the State, and based on its age and the more than 3,000 lead paint tests Isles has performed in Trenton, at least 60% of those homes have lead based paint. Those home conditions lead to excessive rates of asthma, childhood lead poisoning and other health conditions.

The good news is that Isles recently re-acquired the weatherization program for Mercer County, so we can now apply our holistic approach to improving the living conditions of Trenton residents – tackling all the issues a home might have, be they lead, energy or health related.

This innovation, along with our novel approach to home environmental assessments in the face of COVID restrictions (detailed below), is a testament to how Isles staff innovates its way around challenges. I’m inspired daily by how our staff rises to every challenge. I hope you will be too.

In community,

Peter Rose

Managing Director, Community Enterprises

A New Approach to Healthy Homes

COVID has forced many children and families to spend even more time in their homes. For families who live in substandard housing, extended time indoors has exacerbated an already significant problem. As the NJ Department of Health shared recently at a statewide conference, the pandemic has seen a 40% drop in testing of lead blood levels, a 4% increase in elevated BLLs, and a spike in hospitalizations for extreme lead poisoning cases - in short, the increased time in unsafe homes means more kids are getting permanently lead poisoned.

So for Isles, the challenge was clear: we had to figure out how to continue to provide lead testing and healthy homes services to the community while maintaining physical distancing and keeping staff and families safe. In response to the concerns many residents have about allowing community health workers (CHWs) into their homes during COVID, we’ve piloted a virtual/hybrid approach to performing lead and healthy homes assessments.

After trying out different approaches, Isles CHWs now offer virtual video walkthroughs with in-person exterior assessments. First, Isles’ CHWs come to the exterior of the home and test sills and other wood surfaces for lead.

Residents then video chat with CHWs while walking through their homes so that the CHWs can identify any issues using our visual assessment form. They look for issues like deteriorated paint, water intrusion, mold, signs of pests, poorly functioning windows, aging heaters, and clutter. The CHWs ask the residents questions about home practices that might exacerbate asthma, such as cleaning products used.

Based on these assessments, the CHW creates a tailored response plan for the family, providing resident education, a Healthy Homes Kit with useful products for improving indoor health, and when appropriate, connecting them to online apps to sign up for our lead remediation program and/or weatherization assistance program. Together, this "whole house" approach provides safe, energy efficient housing to families – a critical piece to our mission of fostering self-reliance and healthy, sustainable communities.

To learn more or sign up, reach out to our Program Manager Cherie Hooks at [email protected].