Communities Organized Against Asthma and Lead: Project COAL (Communidades organizadas contra asthma y plomo) will be a partnership between De Madres a Madres, Inc. in Houston, TX, The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Casa de Amigos Health Center, and the Environmental Justice Clinic at Texas Southern University School of Law. The partnership will bring together a well-established and respected community based organization in the Near North Side community of Houston, with Environmental Toxicologists in the NIEHS Center at UTMB, health care providers at the Harris County Hospital District Clinic serving the Near North Side, and attorneys and law students with a history of response to environmental health problems in disadvantaged communities. This partnership will address two pressing environmental problems in the homes of this community: exposure of children to lead, from paint, and to agents that can trigger asthma. We will address these issues first through a novel approach to communication using theater as a means to educate and to elicit responses from the community. This approach will inform the community about Project COAL and provide local knowledge from the community to the partners in this project. The second focus of the project will be to serve the needs of residents in the community by making assessments of their homes to identify sources of lead and agents that can trigger asthma. Paint samples will be tested for lead. Levels of allergens (dust mites, mold spores, pollen) in the air will be determined, irritant chemicals and allergens from insects and rodents will be measured. UTMB will train local resident home assessment teams and perform the laboratory tests. Residents will be given training to enable them to reduce or eliminate these hazards from their homes and they will receive consistent follow-up from the home assessment teams. The medical clinic and environmental justice clinic will serve in an advisory capacity and provide data about the community, and assist in specific situations when the need arises. The primary purpose of Project COAL is to give De Madres a Madres the means to provide services to reduce the exposure of children in their community to agents that can result in lead exposure and asthma exacerbation.
