To do this, Buffalo organizations from both sides of the "fence" between weatherization services and health-based services are undertaking assessments for conditions they don't handle. Example: An NHS of South Buffalo auditor will enter a home to do our standard energy assessment. While checking for heat leakage and air flow, he notices some mold. Later, the family mentions that their oldest son has asthma. Since the house looks like a good candidate for GHHI, the auditor does a quick Health and Safety Assessment and refers the family to the GHHI program.
We won't go into what happens after the referral -- it all depends on the unique situation -- but this practice of assessing for both types of problems means that more people get more of the services they need. Up until this point, most of the organizations using the dual assessments were weatherization groups. Happily, some of the health-based groups are getting their energy assessment teams going and more homes will be helped.
Stephanie Kellner, program coordinator for GHHI in Buffalo, said that one of the benefits to homeowners is that there will be "fewer feet in each home" since there won't be multiple teams of auditors tramping about one place. As we get more teams using dual assessments, we end up with more successful applications. That means more families get healthy and energy efficient homes and Buffalo is closer to its goal of energy efficient, safe, and healthy homes for all.
