Kansas City builder creates Health Home

Surpasses ENERGY STAR, earns American Lung Association certification

The Kansas City Health Home is located in the Woods at Colton Lake in southern Overland Park, Kan. KC Health Home, featuring Pella Designer Series windows, is specifically designed to... Click here for more information.

PELLA, Iowa — April 23, 2008 — Just in time for peak allergy and asthma season, Kansas City’s H&S Covenant Homes opens a state-of-the-art, model home designed specifically for asthma and allergy sufferers. Accredited by the American Lung Association® (ALA) and featuring Pella® windows, KC Health Home blends medical science with building science to create a healthier, energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly home.

Located in the Woods at Colton Lake in Overland Park, Kan., KC Health Home demonstrates the benefits of a home designed to specifically combat the growing problem of allergies and asthma aggravated by indoor air pollutants. According to the ALA, 6.8 million children in the United States under the age of 18 have asthma. The chronic lung condition is the third-leading cause of hospitalization among children under age 15.

"It is critically important for people to understand that environmental factors contribute to allergy and asthma,” said Jay Portnoy, M.D., president, American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and physician at Kansas City’s Children’s Mercy Hospital. “With KC Health Home we now have a wonderful model of how building healthy homes can lead to healthy people."

Better indoor air

“We see a demand for healthier homes growing as prevalence of indoor air pollutants increases,” said Frank Pikus, president, H&S Covenant Homes. “Many researchers blame bad air for the rise in asthma and allergies. This is an opportunity to show consumers the specific elements of a healthy home, to realize that healthy living is really green living as well as a means to lower energy consumption and cost.”