Three-deckers: The quintessential low-income housing in Worcester.

As part of the increasing interest in addressing the social determinants of population health, the Worcester, Mass. Division of Public Health and its partners in the local medical and legal communities use a multi-sector approach to address housing and health needs for children at high-risk for asthma.

A blog entry in Health Affairs reports that “since 2003, Community Legal Aid and UMass Memorial Medical Center have had a medical-legal partnership in which pediatric primary care staff connect patients with civil legal aid services when housing, insurance, education, or public benefit problems interfere with their health. In 2014, the partners began using the program specifically as a vehicle to address housing conditions that can trigger asthma attacks.”