The Community Asthma Prevention Program (CAPP) offers free education and care coordination support to families of children in Philadelphia with asthma. Based on a curriculum developed at Georgetown University, You Can Control Asthma, we structure our classes so that both caregivers and children can learn at the same time.

CAPP works in many Philadelphia communities to provide:

• Free asthma education classes in familiar environments, such as schools, churches, daycare centers and community centers throughout the city
• Home visits in Philadelphia, Montgomery and Delaware counties to address the home environment of children with asthma and to provide one-on-one education
• Asthma resources for professionals, students and school personnel

Community classes

Classes for caregivers and their children are group-facilitated and led by trained community peer educators. Our goal in using a “train the trainer” model is to leave neighborhoods and communities with lay asthma experts in order to sustain asthma management and prevention efforts.

Additionally CAPP conducts Asthma 101 Workshops for school personnel that cover care management, asthma triggers in the environment and medication.

Why participate? CAPP has conducted over 183 class series in inner-city Philadelphia and seen how asthma knowledge, asthma control and asthma quality of life improved in participants who have attended classes. CAPP measures effectiveness of interventions to improve knowledge acquisition and retention, self-management behavior changes and home environmental remediation. With over 3,000 participants, participant knowledge on asthma and self-management skills are measured by pre- and post-testing.

Measuring the success of community classes

CAPP has seen that asthma knowledge, asthma control and asthma quality of life improved in participants who have attended classes.

• Over 183 class series have been conducted in inner-city Philadelphia, reaching approximately 3,000 participants.
• Participant knowledge acquisition is measured by pre- and post-testing. Self-management skills are also measured.

The Community Asthma Prevention Program works with a collaborative of partners who represent a wide variety of organizations.

Pennsylvania Department of Health (PaDOH) Home Visitor Program

The Home Visitor Program, operating in Philadelphia, Montgomery and Delaware counties, is proven to reduce pediatric asthma-related emergency room visits by approximately 30-50% through a combination of asthma education in the home, home environment assessments and remediation to remove common asthma triggers (using supplies and education). Success is measured by sustained remediation in child’s bedroom after one year.  

CAPP+ Home Repairs (CAPP+) Program

The CAPP+ Home Repairs (CAPP+) program expands CAPP’s vision to provide healthy homes for children with asthma. Often CAPP’s community health workers find larger structural defects in the home during their home assessment which cannot be adequately addressed with mitigation supplies. The CAPP+ Program tackles these structural repairs through partnership with home repair agencies, spending an average of thirteen to fifteen thousand dollars per home. These efforts target mold, pest entry points, and dust by replacing and repairing roofs, fixing plumbing leaks, removing carpeting, and sealing holes and gaps to exclude pests.

West Philadelphia Asthma Care Collaborative

Asthma evidence-based interventions have been shown to improve health outcomes but are often implemented as individual interventions rather than in an integrated, comprehensive approach which would support and promote sustainability. With this grant we completed a community needs assessment of West Philadelphia and engaged community, health, education and home stakeholders to design a pragmatic sustainable asthma care implementation program for children 6-12, living in West Philadelphia for a NIH funded Asthma Empowerment Collaborations to Reduce Childhood Asthma Disparities (UO1) grant application. The West Philadelphia Asthma Care Collaborative (WEPACC) seeks to integrate interventions in a comprehensive and sustainable manner to reduce asthma disparities in low-income, minority children.

Fighting Asthma Disparities Annual Summit

For almost 20 years, the Community Asthma Prevention Program has focused on fighting disparities in asthma through strong community ties, high performing-collaborations and partnerships, community health workers, integration of health care services and tailored environmental interventions to increase the effectiveness of care for people with asthma.

The Fighting Asthma Disparities Summit is designed to bring together doctors, nurses, regional and local public health officials, social workers, caregivers, community health workers and members of the community to increase awareness, provide education and encourage advocacy. 

The Fighting Asthma Disparities Summit is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, with support from the Community Asthma Prevention Program.

Annual Asthma Summit Information

CAPP collaborative partners

• American Lung Association
• City of Philadelphia Department of Public Health
• Environmental Protection Agency Region 3
• Habitat for Humanity/Philadelphia
• Health Federation of Philadelphia
• Health Partners
• National Nursing Centers Consortium
• Philadelphia Allies Against Asthma
• Philadelphia Health Management Corporation
• School District of the City of Philadelphia
• Education Plus Health Inc.
• Thomas Jefferson University
• Christ Haven Church
• Keystone First
• Aetna Better Health
• United Healthcare
• Philadelphia Housing Authority
• Pennsylvania Integrated Pest Management
• Healthy Homes, Region III North
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
• University of Pennsylvania
• Greater Philadelphia Health Action Inc./ Woodland Avenue Health Center
• Rebuilding Together Philadelphia

Asthma education

Asthma Prevention Primary Care Physician Education

CAPP staff is available to offer provider and nurse education as well as facilitate quality improvement projects within the office to improve asthma management.