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From left, Ateya Wilson, American Lung
Association; Carol Kemker, deputy director of
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Air,
Pesticides and Toxics Management Division; Pam
Collins, acting deputy director of CDC's
National Asthma Program; Francesca Lopez,
program manager of DPH's Georgia Asthma Control
Program; Katie Miller, Georgia Department of
Public Health board member; and Jim Costas,
regional representative for Aerocrine Inc.
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Each May, thousands of
organizations join together during Asthma Awareness Month
to increase public awareness of the asthma epidemic and to
take action to get asthma under control in communities
across the nation.
This year,
the Georgia Department of Public Health's (DPH) Georgia
Asthma Control Program (GACP) observed World Asthma Day with
the theme 'Is It Asthma' to increase awareness among parents
and caregivers of the signs and symptoms of asthma and the
key questions they should be asking their child's primary
care provider. The event was held at Dunbar Elementary in
Atlanta and included a talk by Leroy Graham, M.D., founder
of Not One More Life, an Atlanta-based asthma education
program.
GACP and
partners emphasized the need for an asthma action plan, how
to monitor symptoms, importance of daily controller
medication, avoidance of exposure to allergens and
irritants, when to call the physician for advice and when to
go to the emergency room.
Asthma
affects almost 25 million people of all ages and races
across the nation. In Georgia, 568,658 adults and 259,198
children are living with asthma. It is one of the leading
reasons children in Georgia visit the emergency room or are
admitted to the hospital. More than half of school-age
children with asthma miss at least one day of school because
of the illness. According to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC), in a classroom of 30 children, about
three are likely to have asthma on average. Low-income
populations, minorities and children living in inner cities
experience more emergency department visits,
hospitalizations and deaths due to asthma than the general
population.
The CDC
National Asthma Control Program, Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) Region 4, Georgia American Lung Association,
Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta Green and Healthy
Homes Initiative and Southside Medical Center provided
resources to parents and caregivers at Dunbar Elementary
School.
For more information about asthma control, visit
http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/asthma/.
-Story
by Francesca Lopez, DPH Georgia Asthma Control Program
