Breathe Easy at Home Project

Mission

The mission of the Breathe Easy At Home (BEAH) Program is to improve the health of children with asthma by addressing the environmental health of their homes. BEAH strives to improve the quality of asthma care by providing the opportunity for health care providers to better connect to and impact the environment in which their patients live.

What We Do

BEAH is a web-based referral system through which healthcare providers can refer patients with asthma to housing officials for inspections in Providence and Pawtucket. Inspections are made for families with a child with poorly controlled asthma and whose rental housing is suspected to have substandard conditions that may be triggering the child's asthma. Asthma triggers such as the presence of cockroaches, mice, and mold or moisture problems can cause serious issues for some children with asthma.

BEAH is a voluntary program. Once parent consent is received, the BEAH process includes the provider’s referral to the city/town code inspector, the inspection report and notice of violation, reinspections, and enforcement against the landlord if necessary. The referring healthcare provider can track the process through KIDSNET, Rhode Island’s confidential, computerized child health information system.  The case remains open until all housing code violations have been corrected.

The BEAH Program is in the pilot stage and not yet available to everyone.  The Program may expand to more providers in Providence and Pawtucket in the future. 

What You Can Do

Parent

Learn about your child’s asthma triggers. If your home has cockroaches, mice, and mold or moisture problems, speak to your landlord about fixing the problems and determine what you can do to help. If your healthcare provider is participating in BEAH, enroll in the program or talk to your landlord yourself about fixing problems that affect your child’s asthma. (more) Take steps to reduce the asthma triggers that you can control (more), including using non-toxic cleaners. (more)

Provider

If asthma triggers such as the presence of cockroaches, mice, and mold or moisture problems are in the child’s home, provide educational materials and/or a referral to a certified asthma educator. Contact BEAH@health.ri.gov for information on how to participate in BEAH. Once you become a BEAH Provider, you should follow these steps:

• Screen for asthma triggers in the child’s home
• Explain the BEAH process to the parent/guardian
• Have parent/guardian sign consent for referral
• Log onto KIDSNET to create referral to city/town inspector
• Monitor progress in KIDSNET throughout inspection process

Inspector

The BEAH Program trains city/town inspectors to identify asthma triggers that are also housing code violations. All inspection results are available to the provider through KIDSNET. After a referral is received, the inspector should follow these steps:

• Contact family to schedule a home inspection
• Send notification of code violations and compliance deadline to landlord
• Conduct follow-up inspections until all violations are corrected
• Enter all inspection results into KIDSNET
• Enforce housing code violations in court when necessary