On April 29, Tyra Bryant-Stephens, MD, medical director of CHOP's Community Asthma Prevention Program (CAPP), testified before the Philadelphia City Council’s Committee on the Environment about the effects of poor indoor air quality on asthma. The Committee is chaired by City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown (D).

During her April testimony, Dr. Bryant-Stephens spoke about the home visit program, which is a part of CAPP, and how it has helped to reduce children’s asthma-related visits to the emergency department and increased school attendance. She also advocated to expand programs like CAPP to help even more children across Philadelphia and in the five-county region.

In additional testimony on May 19, Dr. Bryant-Stephens spoke about household conditions including mold, dust mites, carpeting, bedding, etc., which can lead to asthma attacks and subsequent emergency department visits and hospital admissions. She highlighted the importance of programs like CAPP, which provides free asthma education classes in familiar environments, home visits to evaluate asthmatic children’s home environments in West, Southwest and North Philadelphia, and asthma resources for professionals, students and school personnel.

Read Dr. Bryant-Stephens' testimony »

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