Health Council of East Central Florida

With funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, NCHH has funded two rounds of Healthy Homes Workforce Development Mini-Grants, with applications open during late 2017 and spring 2018. These mini-grants help communities develop their workforce capacity to offer home-visiting services related to healthy homes, and to build a pool of trained community health workers (CHWs) trained in the healthy homes principles.
Under current programming provided by the Health Council of East Central Florida, two community paramedics make home visits to individuals with chronic health conditions living in vulnerable neighborhoods in Seminole County, Florida, to reduce the likelihood that they will require emergency health services or hospitalization. Often, these community paramedics identify housing issues that have the potential to contribute to identified health issues, such as broken doors, pest infestation, and other unsafe living conditions.
As a current 2018 mini-grantee, HCECF together with Seminole County Government, the health department, and other partner organizations, is training the community paramedics and an existing team of CHWs to identify homes contributing to health risks and the local resources available to address them. The CHWs will then team with the community paramedics to identify clients at risk, determine appropriate interventions, and work with community partners like Rebuilding Together Orlando, Seminole County Government Community Services, and Meals on Wheels to ensure healthy housing. The program goal is to ensure that healthy housing contributes to the ability of the community paramedics and CHWs to prevent the need by these residents for emergency health services or hospitalization.