Healthcare Provider

The Pediatric/Adolescent Asthma Center of Forum Health/Tod Children's Hospital in Youngstown, Ohio is composed of an interdisciplinary team of of professionals, including Respiratory Therapists, Nurses, Child Life and Education Specialists. The Asthma Center offers a comprehensive inpatient/outpatient program for pediatric/adolescent asthma patients and their families. Services include individualized and group education sessions, school liaison programs, and a one-day asthma camp for kids. The Asthma Center acts as a community resource center for quality asthma information, participates in community health fairs, and does lectures and presentations upon request. The Asthma Center has been and continues to be active in grant projects to improve the quality of life for children with asthma and their families. Past and present grant projects include awards from the Ohio Commission on Minority Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Infection (CDC), and various local funders. Funded programs have included peditaric asthma populations within schools, childcare centers, and local minority community centers. Staff from the Asthma Center are active participants on the Ohio Asthma Coalition. Goals of the Asthma Center are: 1.) Promote and support individual and family lifestyles for improved asthma management, 2.) Become a state model Asthma Disease Management program, 3.) Track the disease, assess the effectiveness of asthma intervention programs, and disseminate information through appropriate channels, and 4.) Reduce/pevent death due to asthma of children in the region.

The mission of the Mobile C.A.R.E. Foundation is to provide free and comprehensive asthma care, health education, and medications to children with in Chicago's underserved communities via mobile medical clinics, the Asthma Vans. Our goal is to control asthma, one child and family at a time, so they are able to lead a symptom free life. A few of our measurable objectives include reducing ER visits, hospitalizations, and school days missed for our patients. The services offered on our Asthma Vans are: convenient access to specialty-trained pediatricians, nurses, and clinical assistants who administer care on-site, including assessment and diagnosis, physicial examinations, lung function testing, allergy skin testing, tailored treatment plans, and follow up visits; 24-hour emergency call service; one-on-one family education; and medications and tools such as spacers, holding chambers, nebulizers, and peak flow meters. Our most recent quarterly report shows that we reduced ER visits by 50%, hospitalizations by 40%, and school days missed by 62%. The number of children in control of their asthma increased from 21% to 71% after receiving our ongoing services.

Improving Pediatric Asthma Care in the District of Columbia IMPACT DC Asthma Clinic targets inner-city, minority and disadvantaged children who suffer disproportionate asthma morbidity and mortality. Most live with challenging social and environmental circumstances with daily exposure to multiple asthma triggers. Our families often have a tenuous connection with their primary care providers, and thus frequently rely on emergency departments (EDs) for asthma care. While EDs typically provide excellent episodic care for acute asthma exacerbations, they usually pay little attention to longitudinal management issues. As a result, many families view asthma as an episodic problem instead of a chronic disease requiring daily management. Our fully validated program recruits from a large urban ED (Children’s National Medical Center) and focuses on three distinct domains: environmental control, medical management, and longitudinal care. In a prospective clinical trial, it improved multiple patient outcomes. It is an innovative replicable, and cost-efficient national model for asthma mitigation among children in the inner city.