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How School Nurses Can Make a Difference
Asthma is the most common chronic childhood illness. Asthma morbidity and mortality are increasing despite improvements in asthma therapy. The burden of asthma is particularly significant for children living in the inner city.
Recent guidelines from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute recommend daily use of maintenance (control) medications for all children with mild persistent to severe persistent asthma. However, studies have shown that inadequate therapy with maintenance medication is common, particularly for poor urban children.
A recent study showed that 74% of children were receiving inadequate maintenance medications for asthma. Many providers were not aware of the child’s symptoms either because the family did not communicate them to the provider or because they were not seen regularly by the same provider.
How can school nurses help improve the care received by their students with asthma?
District Nursing is offering two programs to help students understand their asthma, use their medications, and avoid their environmental triggers. We believe that learning these skills empowers the child and his/her family to communicate more effectively with their health care provider.
Open Airways for Schools is an elementary school program sponsored by the American Lung Association for children age 8 to 12. Middle and High School students are taught Power Breathing, a self management program developed by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation.
Our grant from the CDC allows us to pay school nurses $250 for completing these programs at their school sites. If you are interested in making a difference in the life of a child with asthma contact Susan LaCombe at District Nursing to be part of these programs.
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Indoor Air Quality and Student Performance
Recent data suggest that poor indoor air quality may directly reduce a person’s ability to perform specific mental tasks requiring concentration, calculation, or memory. The evidence is increasing in studies of both schools and other settings that indoor pollution or inadequate ventilation can decrease student and teacher performance.
Good indoor air quality (IAQ) in schools, including pollutant control and adequate ventilation, appears to improve student and teacher health, increases school attendance, and therefore improves student performance.
The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its Science Advisory Board consistently rank indoor air pollution among the top five environmental health risks. According to he EPA, IAQ levels of pollution may be two to five times and sometimes more than 100 times higher than the outdoor levels. The costs of poor IAQ related to sick building syndrome and asthma may be as high as $20 billion including productivity loses.
Research has shown that poor IAQ plays a strong role in triggering asthma episodes. This is a major problem in schools because more than 6 million children have asthma. Children with asthma miss more than 14 million school days each year, affecting their learning and school performance.
School nurses and classroom teachers are working collaboratively with the LAUSD Office of Environmental Health and Safety to implement a nationally recognized indoor air quality program called Tools for Schools. School teams work together to assess indoor air quality conditions in each classroom, identify any problems, and develop plans to resolve them. The goals are to optimize the performances of students and teachers in the classroom and to increase student attendance and performance at school.
If you would like this program at your school please contact Susan LaCombe at District Nursing--213-763-8374. A special grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will pay a $250 stipend for each site leader upon completion of the program.
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