By Gina McCarthy
We’ve done quite a bit this May to raise awareness on asthma. As this Asthma awareness month comes to a close, I want to remind folks about the important work that’s going on in communities across the country to help families manage asthma.
Nearly 26 million Americans, including seven million children, are affected by asthma, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), minority children living in poor socioeconomic conditions are at greatest risk. Poor and minority children are more likely to have asthma and their health outcomes are worse. For example, black children are twice as likely to be hospitalized and four times as likely to die from asthma as white children. The annual economic cost of asthma, including direct medical costs from hospital stays and indirect costs such as lost school and work days, amounts to approximately $56 billion.
This year’s National Environmental Leadership Award in Asthma Management winners are all taking steps to address these issues, including finding innovative ways to meet the needs of disproportionately impacted populations. This award is the highest recognition a program and its leaders can receive for delivering excellent environmental asthma management as part of their comprehensive asthma care services.
The 2013 award-winning programs are working in communities to get the right care to some of the people that need it the most, and EPA applauds their innovative approaches and dedication:
Greenville Health System, Greenville, South Carolina: a multidisciplinary, multilingual, family-centered program providing asthma care and management support for over 4,000 children and adolescents with asthma, especially those who have limited access to health care. Their program includes a partnership that provides home visits through a parent-to-parent support network which has led to a 71 percent decrease in urgent health care utilization.
North East Independent School District, San Antonio, Texas: an urban, diversified school district whose Asthma Awareness Education Program targets more than 8,000 students in the district with asthma. This district implements interventions that have resulted in a 70 percent reduction in annual emergency transports to hospitals during the school day.
Parkview Health System, Fort Wayne, Indiana: a nonprofit health care provider addressing the growing incidence of asthma-related illnesses in the urban, suburban and rural populations they serve. An important program component includes their Emergency Department (ED) Asthma Call Back Program that reduced repeat ED visits for asthma from almost 22 percent at baseline to 15 percent in the intervention year.
I want to thank these and the thousands of other organizations that are working to make life better for families and communities across the United States and I look forward to continuing our work together.
I also want to thank the team in our Office of Radiation and Indoor Air for their great work in making Asthma Awareness Month a success. Their efforts are helping to raise public awareness, strengthen partnerships and advance comprehensive asthma management.
Please read moreabout Asthma Awareness.
About the author: Gina McCarthy is the Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation.
