Asthma Detection and Treatment Program is Helping Thousands of Inner-City Youth in New York and Could Be Expanded Nationally

NEW YORK CITY, Feb. 23???Asthma is a horrific disease that literally takes children???s breath away, and it is disturbingly prevalent in disadvantaged communities where life is already a struggle. A New York Academy of Medicine program has dramatically reduced asthma symptoms among preschool-age children by pinpointing asthma-sufferers and getting them into proper treatment. This novel initiative has made such a huge impact in East Harlem and the Lower East Side that the New York City Health Department and City Council are now funding its expansion to an impressive 90 daycare centers in four boroughs, taking bold steps to tackle a pervasive urban health issue that affects our youngest, most vulnerable populations across the country.

The groundbreaking initiative led by our staff asthma expert, Dr. Sebastian Bonner, works as follows. He and his team discovered that although preschool programs routinely screen for hearing, vision, and dental problems, there was no procedure in place to identify children with asthma. In 2002-2003 he developed a brief asthma questionnaire that could be administered by staff at Union Settlement Association???the largest provider of subsidized preschool childcare in East Harlem???as part of routine preschool enrollment and re-enrollment. This questionnaire turned out to be 97 percent accurate in identifying children who would benefit from being referred to a physician for asthma care. Union Settlement then adopted an institutional policy that parents could not register their probable-asthmatic children in preschool unless their doctors filled out ???Asthma Action Plans,??? easy-to-read instructions developed by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene that help parents understand which medications to administer to control symptoms. This huge gate-keeping step really forced parents to comply. Parents of 75 percent of the asthmatic or probable-asthmatic children have now obtained an Asthma Action Plan from their doctor, up from 0 percent at the start of the effort.

???We've achieved such tremendous results in East Harlem day care centers that asthma is basically off their radar, and they're free to focus on health problems more difficult to control like obesity,??? Bonner said.

The city Health Department and City Council are so impressed by the results that they are funding expansion of the system to 90 day care centers in East Harlem, the South Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, and will reach over 9,000 enrolled children. ???I???m proud of the role we play helping community groups get asthma under control,??? Bonner said. ???The Academy developed this program through a long-time collaboration with a vibrant community partner in East Harlem. Now the Department of Health and City Council are doing the right thing by funding community groups to spread these benefits. I believe that our best role as researchers is to figure out what works and then bring community groups and public health officials together to keep the ball rolling.???

The New York Academy of Medicine, the country???s premier urban health policy and intervention center, focuses on enhancing the health of people living in cities through research, education, advocacy, and prevention. Visit us online at www.nyam.org.

###

Posted on February 24, 2006

 Print   Subscribe

Contact:
Andrew J. Martin
Director of Communications
The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10029
212-822-7285
amartin@nyam.org

Press Release Archive