Community Health Worker

Becoming an Asthma Educator and Care Manager Objectives:
1. Describe the burden of asthma in the United States.
2. Outline key components of asthma management from the Expert Panel Report 3: Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma.
3. Evaluate patients and caregivers educational needs and select management tools to optimize partnerships in care.

Findings from the Washington Heights/Inwood Network (WIN) for Asthma program were featured in an online article of the American Journal of Public Health. The article, "Community Health Workers as Drivers of a Successful Community-Based Disease Management Initiative," points to the importance of community health workers in bridging gaps in care, providing culturally appropriate education and services and connecting families to the best clinical and social resources for those most in need.

New asthma videos are available on the American Lung Association's YouTube channel.

A stand-alone learning module that teaches the basics of asthma management, including how to handle asthma episodes and breathing emergencies.

This online toolkit was designed to outline strategies and provide supporting resources to help community advocates as they address asthma policy in housing and school environments.

Smokefree Policies in Multi-Unit Housing: Steps for Success is a free online curriculum designed to give property managers, residents and public health advocates the knowledge and skills they need to enact smokefree air policies in multi-unit housing properties such as apartments and condomiums across the nation.

The report establishes recommendations for bleach-free sanitizers and disinfectants that are safer for asthma; and recommendations regarding safer practices for using bleach. The goal of these recommendations and suggestions--which include specific training needs for management, staff and parents--is to encourage the sustainability of best practices while protecting the health of child care workers and the children served.

This review identifies economic values of home-based, multi-trigger, multi-component interventions with an environmental focus and presents ranges for the main economic outcomes (e.g., program costs, benefit-cost ratios and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios).

The US EPA offers a School Flag Program to raise awareness about air quality conditions by raising flags in front of schools during the week. This lets students, parents, school personnel and the community know what the level of air pollution is for that day, and whether they need to adjust their activities to reduce their exposure to air pollution to stay healthy.

For the fourth year, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) has released its annual report assessing all 50 states and the District of Columbia on their leadership and progress on school-based policies that address student asthma and allergy health in more than 100,000 elementary, middle and high schools across the U.S. The goal of this report is to identify state-level progress towards better school-based policies, and to provide a blueprint for asthma and allergy advocates nationwide. Does your state make the grade when it comes to school asthma & allergy policies? Full results, including an interactive map, detailed state profiles and charts, are available at www.StateHonorRoll.org For more information contact Liana Burns at liana@aafa.org or 202-466-7643 ext. 252