Great information being shared among the asthma and COPD coalitions on the best practices for addressing health disparities in communities across the country.  Champions like Amanda Reddy, New York State Department, Healthy Neighborhhods Program; Mamta Reddy, South Bronx Asthma Partnership Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center; and Tyra Bryant-Stephens, Community Asthma Prevention Program shared their successful strategies for improving health outcomes, saving health care dollars, and improving the quality of life for people with asthma. (Check out each of their program profiles on Asthma Community Network.) Looking forward to even more information sharing at the break out sessions and poster presentations this afternoon and evening!  

Guidelines have been developed for the appropriate care and management of patients with asthma, but there is a mounting body of evidence suggesting that there is a large disparity between the development and the actual implementation of guideline-driven asthma care in primary and specialty care practices. This may in part be due to the challenges primary care physicians have in taking the voluminous guidelines and streaming them into the practical world of patient care. This study will examine whether the use of the ASTHMA IQ for primary care tool (www.asthmaiq.org) will improve asthma care and asthma outcomes using a randomized trial of the ASTHMA IQ system versus usual asthma care in the primary care setting.

The study is currently recruiting an additional 10 primary care practices (family medicine, pediatrics or internal medicine). We are looking for small to medium sized practices with 2-4 physicians. Each participating physician will be asked to recruit a minimum of 10 patients age 12 and above wtih a history of chronic persisten asthma requiring controller therapy. You may participate if you are already using an EMR or if you are still using paper charts.

Physicians and patients will be compensated for their participating in the study. For more information, contact Mindy Spano (mspano@aafp.org) or Karen Sparks (ksparks@aafp.org) at the AAFP NRN. Our goal is to have all practices recruited by October 31.

I think we take breathing for granted. Nobody sees breathing as something you have to work for unless you’re an asthmatic and you know what that means. I’m the mother of a child with asthma and I’m an Asthma Healthcare Navigator at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Actually, I first became involved with asthma initiatives because I wanted to learn more about my child’s asthma and how to manage it as a mom. So, I attended workshops and classes offered through the Community Asthma Prevention Program (CAPP) , and shortly afterwards I became a parent facilitator for CAPP. As a parent facilitator I educated caregivers about asthma. Once I became a home visitor I was able to individually educate caregivers and children and assist them in removing asthma triggers from the home. Now, I’m an asthma navigator, which means I help people manage their asthma or a loved one’s asthma by identifying barriers to good asthma management and connecting them to healthcare services. My passion is to keep kids healthy.

This is what led me to the National Asthma Forum. The first couple of years I went to the Forum to find out what other people were doing in their programs and to talk about being the mom of a kid with asthma. It was fascinating to hear about what other people were doing and validating to learn that they thought our program at Children’s Hospital was successful! Each year I learned about something that someone else was doing that I thought could help our program. This year was another great experience.  I learned that other programs are targeting specific non-English speaking or ethnic groups, like Native Americans. It made me think about how Children’s Hospital can add more staff so that we can ensure we are taking care of as many people as we can. 

But what the Forum really does for me each year is remind me that asthma is not something that we should give up on. We still have to find ways to get more funding and keep doing what we’re doing.

I am interested in knowing what others thought of this year’s Forum and if there is any way I can assist you in your program initiatives. 

Thanks, 

Charmane Braxton

Through our CDC funded Asthma Project called “Clearing the Air About Asthma” we provide tools and resources for HISD students with asthma in the South and East Regional locations of Houston.
The grant focuses on 12 asthma target schools in the area where it implements evidence based programs such as “Open Airways for Schools” (OAS) and “Basic Asthma 101”.

One of the major strengths of the HISD Asthma Project is its collaboration with HISD School Registered Nurses and local and national community partners. A great example of our strong collaboration was illustrated on May 6th when we held an Asthma Forum targeting the “Medically Underserved Area” in South Houston.

At the Forum we presented informational sessions on “Healthy Homes” and HISD school-based Asthma Management programs for the parents, while older children participated in “Ozone Theater”- an air quality curriculum sponsored by Air Alliance Houston. Older children also had the opportunity to participate in an HISD Professional Development System Online Asthma class provided in a Houston Library Mobile Bus.  Simultaneously, the younger children participated in an interactive puppet show and storytelling session, both of which focused on asthma. These events were sponsored by Air Alliance Houston and the Houston Library. Community organizations such as American Lung Association, Community Health Choice Asthma Case Managers and Texas Children’s Hospital Project Medical, among many others, distributed hand outs, brochures and pamphlets, as well as environmental checklists for asthma triggers, Asthma Action Plans, Asthma medications, asthma tools and equipment, etc.
 
There were 111 participants in total and because of this great turn out, the partners are considering having another Asthma Forum next year!

Look for other upcoming Asthma Awareness Month events provided by “Clearing the Air about Asthma.”

• Monthly “BREATH” newsletter on Asthma Awareness Month.
• HISD website has “Asthma Awareness article.”
• 12 Asthma Target schools will have an asthma awareness bulletin board or event at their school.
• Mega 101FM in Houston will broadcast a Spanish Awareness Message about Asthma in May.