Investing in essential community programs in Pennsylvania

When children have the support and resources to boost their overall health and well-being, the possibilities are endless.

That includes children that may need help with asthma, families in need of healthier living environments or more permanent housing, and those that live in a food desert. These issues are what's known as social determinants of health — or the non-medical factors that can affect one's daily life.¹

In Pennsylvania, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is committed to providing exceptional patient care and advocating for critical programs designed for children and adolescents. Their CHOP Care Network includes more than 50 primary care practices, specialty care and surgical centers, urgent care centers and community hospital alliances.

To support the work they do to address health-related medical and social needs, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Pennsylvania provided a $1.7 million investment to CHOP for initiatives within their Center for Health Equity, Office of Community Impact and Center for Violence Protection.

The funding from UnitedHealthcare will help expand access to the following:

• CHOP’s Community Asthma Prevention Program² offers free education and support to Philadelphia children with asthma and their caregivers, with the goal of improving asthma-related outcomes and reducing emergency department visits and hospital stays. The program includes asthma prevention home visits, CHOP Care Network Primary Care Center physician education and school-based programs.
• CHOP’s CAPP+ Home Repairs Program³ is dedicated to creating healthier living environments for children with asthma by addressing significant structural housing issues. By collaborating with Philadelphia home repair agencies, CAPP+ invests an average of $25K per home to eliminate asthma triggers including mold, pest residue, and dust through repairs to roofs, plumbing leaks and other necessary improvements. The goal of CAPP+ is to ensure that every child can grow up in a healthy home.
• CHOP’s Mobile Food Market involves a weekly mobile food truck that delivers produce, proteins and milk to families living in the Cobbs Creek neighborhood of Philadelphia, a known food desert.
• CHOP’s youth summer employment program, which aims to improve teens' ability to obtain jobs, develop foundational finance skills and keep them safely engaged over the summer.
• CHOP’s Firearm Safety Initiative,⁴ which integrates firearm safety counseling and gun locking device distribution into clinical care to address mental health and community violence.
• Security deposits for at least 100 home-insecure families, helping them stabilize their housing situation and address the unaffordability of housing in West Philadelphia to reduce homelessness.
  

“It’s a privilege to collaborate with CHOP to help our local communities gain access to vital programs and services in Philadelphia that empower children and families to live healthier lives,” said Blair Boroch, CEO, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Pennsylvania. “CHOP’s initiatives not only provide essential support for children with asthma — improving their health outcomes and quality of life — but also address the broader social factors that influence well-being, such as access to safe housing, nutritious food, and opportunities to build life skills through work experience. By focusing on these social drivers of health alongside medical care, we can make a meaningful difference.”