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Asthma can
significantly disrupt the education process when 14 million
school days are lost annually due to asthma. According to a
national survey of school nurses, asthma is more disruptive
of school routines than any other chronic condition, has a
significant impact on absenteeism and many school staff may
lack awareness of the causes of an asthma attack. More than
1/3rd of the nurses said they had to respond to
an acute asthma attack at least 11 times in the last school
year. In Long Beach approximately 1 in 8 children
have been diagnosed with asthma.
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Improving Asthma Management at School:
Improved communications between parents, school
nurses and health care professionals and effective
school asthma management can help reduce the number
of asthma attacks children experience each year.
According to the American Lung Association,
effective school management includes: |
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Keeping children with asthma away from potential
triggers, such as mold, dust, chemicals, strong
odors or furry or feathered animals; |
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Ensuring children take their medication as
prescribed by their physician; |
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Guaranteeing easy access to medication in case of an
asthma attack; and |
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Allowing children to use their medications prior to
exercise to prevent breathing problems associated
with exercise-induced asthma. |
LBACA and the American Lung
Association of LA County have several FREE programs and
services available to schools in LBUSD and LAUSD to help
reduce asthma attacks, school absenteeism due to asthma and
improve asthma management at school. These include:
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School Nurse Luncheons:
Provides asthma recognition, management and
medication delivery training.
Contact us
to schedule a luncheon.
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Air
Quality Flags:
In one of the school focus groups school staff
suggested that we develop an " air quality flag" to
be raised at schools on poor air quality days so
that all teachers and students are aware of
hazardous air quality days and are able to adjust
physical activities accordingly. Planet Asthma
is an Orange flag (icon below), signifying the
Environmental Protection Agency's Air Quality Index
category "Unhealthy for Sensitive
Individuals," will be provided to schools and will
be raise on 'Orange' or 'Red' air quality days, or
days with air quality index values of 101 or above.
(see
a description of the EPA's Air Quality Index)
Contact us
for more information. |
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"Planet Asthma" |
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