title: Educating refugees to improve their home environmental health.
abstract: Rochester's Healthy Home was a hands-on home environmental health museum that educated more than 3500 visitors between June 2006 and December 2009. The Healthy Home provided visitors with the tools, resources, and motivation to make their homes healthier by reducing environmental hazards. The Healthy Home focused on empowering low-income renters to protect their families from home health risks, but served a broad audience. On the basis of the Healthy Home's initial successes with diverse visitors, in 2009 the county health department provided funding for a 6-month project to educate 200 recently arrived refugees. This report summarizes the project's innovative approach to home health education, presents evaluation data on impacts on refugees and other visitors, suggests implications for resettlement agencies, and provides guidelines for those interested in replicating this approach in their own community.
authors: Environmental Health Sciences Center, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York 14642, USA. Katrina_korfmacher@urmc.rochester.edu
authors: Katrina Smith
authors: KS
authors: Korfmacher
authors: Valerie
authors: V
authors: George
mesh_terms: D003144:Communication Barriers; D003150:Community Health Workers; D003376:Counseling; D054521:Cultural Competency; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000517:prevention & control; D004782:Environmental Health / Q000193:education / Q000592:standards; D005192:Family Health / Q000208:ethnology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000009:adverse effects; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D007855:Lead Poisoning / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D009518:New York; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012036:Refugees / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D015386:Hazardous Substances