Goals of World Asthma Day Live On
May 7, 2008
World Asthma was Tuesday, May 6. Many of our members participated, but many more support the goals of asthma management each and every day. This year’s World Asthma Day theme was “You Can Control Your Asthma.” But don’t think you’ve missed your chance: The entire month of May is designated as Allergy and Asthma Awareness Month.
AARC participated, too, in home territory. Member David Vines represented us at the Texas state capitol for a rally with legislators organized by the Texas Asthma Coalition.
While World Asthma Day and Asthma Month are great times to showcase asthma management, AARC members have the knowledge, tools, and desire to help their patients help themselves all of the time.
Here are some ideas of what members around the country are doing to raise awareness and promote good health for asthma patients everywhere. Sorry we couldn’t use all of the many submissions we received, but it’s clear you’re out there for your patients!
MD
Anderson's respiratory care department has been busy in the community,
speaking at elementary school health fairs, presenting to "at-risk"
kids at a local career center with good feedback from those who
attended, and allowing inner city kids the chance to work with mannikins
and practice CPR. I provide asthma education
to teachers, school nurses and coaches. I attend health fairs around
the community and provide information about asthma and resources
available. At the Center for Multicultural Wellness and Prevention, we hold asthma forums in our target neighborhoods -- Haitian, African American and Hispanic. Speakers are from the neighborhoods and speak fluent Creole or Spanish. Respiratory therapy students from Tyler Junior College and Angelina College in Lufkin, TX, serve as camp counselors for the Texas Asthma Camp, the oldest and largest camp in Texas for children with asthma. I coach high school sports (football, baseball). I educate my asthma kids to always warm up gently prior to stepping it up. And, if ordered, I monitor and encourage beta 2 use prior to any activity. I further educate them in the importance of conditioning and breathing techniques especially when they are fatigued. We have formed a community asthma coalition that has raised money to provide asthma inhalers for patients that are unable to afford medication. We have provided "Asthma 101" training to elementary and middle school teachers and school personnel. We have developed a method for asthma action plans to be given to the school nurses. For World Asthma Day, we are sponsoring a poster contest for elementary children at two schools. The contest is called Draw A Breath. We have purchased trophies for winners at each school. We also have the Breath Express, the Lung Association's mobile classroom coming to a supermarket in New London this week. The Health District will run an asthma awareness banner on our web site for the week. We also created and distributed an asthma newsletter to our partners. The newsletter contains asthma information along with a word search and two mazes. The back page is primarily contact information for our free in-home asthma education program, “Putting on AIRS” (Asthma Indoor Risk Strategies). Our program is free to all residents of New London County and the program has been expanded through to six other sites in Connecticut. With much support, I developed the Breathing Relief Education and Tribal Health Empowerment (BREATHE) Program on the Cheyenne River Reservation. I offer comprehensive asthma education and case management to referred patients. I follow up with the most severe and uncontrolled patients to collect data on asthma changes. I am currently finishing my Associate Degree as a respiratory therapy student. I volunteer part time educating elementary schools and junior high schools on asthma. Each year we hold an evening dinner (pizza!) asthma lecture followed by a workshop staffed by RRT's from Palos Community Hospital. This year our theme is "Exploration Asthma! A Guided Tour to Controlling Your Asthma." We invite the entire community, with a special invite to area teachers and coaches. We have a coloring contest on what children around the city think about asthma. You don't have to have asthma to enter and that helps other children learn about it. We also have a day of activities; we are awarded the proclamation from the mayor to make it the official World Asthma Day for the city. Our pediatric asthma population is quite large, so every summer we hold an asthma camp for 6-12 year olds. With lots of community involvement and our community hospital involved, it provides needed equipment to the children and education of their disease process. The camp is well-received and has been successful for seven years now! I am very lucky - my job at Long Island College Hospital allows me to make an impact on asthma. I have two things that make this true: 1) I am a member of the New York City Asthma Partnership, and 2) I coordinate two funded projects in daycare centers in Brooklyn – reaching 5,000 children yearly. We are having a World Asthma Day and are offering free spirometry screening, free peak flow meters, free smoking cessation resources and various free community resources. Asthma Camp 2008 will be held for children with asthma and their parents to learn about asthma and the management of the disease. The children learn about the triggers, controls, and management through games. While the children are off learning through play, the parents have the opportunity to listen to lectures from therapists and physicians about the latest treatments and resources. We are a new respiratory care department and have been asked to participate in the Children's HealthCare Fair. We will be providing education about what a therapist does, distributing asthma and smoking cessation education booklets, and using the theme "Think Pink" to describe how to care for our lungs. We have a set of pig lungs to demonstrate how lungs ventilate and the effects that smoking has on them. We will be having participants perform peak flows and instructing them on what their normal ranges should be. We'll be taking pictures and would are expecting around 750 participants. I have been an RT for 34 years, have asthma and have a son born at 26 weeks with asthma and COPD. I am one of only eight Certified Asthma Educators (AE-C) in the entire state of Iowa. Everyday I am able to touch the lives of the diverse rural populations and small town communities in Central Iowa because I have chosen to leave the hospital and return to home care where I can best identify and educate entire families, medical providers, and personnel in the schools and other community centers. |