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Breath Matters
The American Lung Association of California’s Monthly e-Newsletter
Improving Life, One Breath at a Time
To automatically connect with your nearest American Lung Association, or to speak with a nurse or respiratory therapist at our free HelpLine, call 800.LUNG.USA (800.586.4872).
January 5, 2007 Number 143
Content:
MONTHLY HEALTH TIP
Quit Smoking For Good With the American Lung Association’s Freedom From Smoking Online, you can quit smoking online anytime at no cost. Download free ads/posters featuring Carol Burnett to promote Freedom From Smoking at your workplace at http://www.californialung.org/spotlight/ffs2002_ads.html
ASSOCIATION IN CBS NETWORK TV REPORT ON ASTHMA AND AIR POLLUTION
The American Lung Association and its HelpLine were included as a resource for more information during a national news report on air pollution and asthma on the CBS evening news with Katie Couric. The report focused on San Joaquin Valley, which has some of the most polluted air in the country and a high rate of asthma. The report also mentioned the air quality flag alert system used at area schools. The program is coordinated by the association’s Fresno office. To read the story online, visit http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/20/eveningnews/main2286374.shtml
For more information, contact Susie Rico at 559.222.4800, srico [at] amerilungcencal [dot] org or Andy Weisser at 818.703.6444 or aweisser [at] earthlink [dot] net
DR. GERBER ADVOCATES FOR CRITICAL LUNG HEALTH POLICIES
From raising awareness about the health effects of global warming to improving end-of-life care, Tony Gerber, MD, Ph.D., is an important advocate for lung health. Volunteers like Dr. Gerber play a key role in helping the American Lung Association of California, along with its medical section the California Thoracic Society, accomplish its mission. An associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Gerber was actively involved in the campaign to pass Assembly Bill 32, California’s landmark global warming legislation. He was the main speaker at a legislative briefing in Sacramento, met with policymakers in the Capitol, and represented the American Lung Association on a Bay Area radio talk show about the issue. Dr. Gerber and his wife also participated in a San Francisco rally to support Proposition 87 that featured former President Bill Clinton. Prop. 87 would have charged oil companies fees similar to those in other oil-producing states.
In his role as chair of the California Thoracic Society’s Healthcare Policy Committee, Dr. Gerber has been actively involved in end-of-life issues. He has reviewed and commented on a variety of regulations regarding end-of-life care and authored a position paper on the topic for CTS. For more information, contact Colleen Richardson at 714.730.1944 or ctslung [at] aol [dot] com, or Linda Weiner at 415.282.8871 or linwiner [at] earthlink [dot] net
GRANT TO FUND SCHOOL AIR QUALITY FLAG ALERT PROGRAM
Thanks to a grant from the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the American Lung Association of California will coordinate a flag air quality notification program at 50 schools in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. The flag alert program allows school staff, students and their families to know how dirty the air is each day through a system of colored flags so they can take proper health precautions. The flags are color-coded according to the air quality index: Green is good, yellow is moderate, orange means unhealthy for sensitive people and red signals unhealthy for everyone. Schools receive air quality reports each day from the air district so they know which flag to use.
For more information, contact Pat Kudell at 909.884.5864 or pat [at] alaic [dot] org, or Glenn Maddalon at 714.835.5864 or gmaddalon [at] oclung [dot] org
PLANNING TO TAKE THE ASTHMA EDUCATOR CERTIFICATION BOARD EXAM?
The next Asthma Educator Institutes are scheduled for March 1 and 2 in San Diego and March 9 and 10 at Santa Barbara City College in Goleta. The courses are designed to prepare licensed healthcare providers, physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, health educators and social workers who are planning to take the National Asthma Educator Certification Board Examination.
To register for the San Diego course, contact Luis Lechuga at llechuga [at] alac [dot] org or 619.683.8660. For details about the Santa Barbara course and to register, visit www.alasbvcevents.org and scroll down to the link titled “Click here to register for the Asthma Educator Institute,” or contact Donna Beal at 805.963.1426 or donna [at] lungsbvc [dot] org
WORKSHOP HIGHLIGHTS PHYSICIAN’S ROLE IN FIGHTING GLOBAL WARMING
Linda Weiner, director of Air Quality Advocacy and Outreach for the American Lung Association of California, co-presented a workshop session with a representative from the Natural Resources Defense Council titled “The Physician’s Role in Fighting Global Warming” at the National Physician Advocacy Fellowship conference in San Francisco on December 1 sponsored by Columbia University Center on Medicine in New York. Her presentation was based on the American Lung Association’s work with physicians and other healthcare professionals to pass Assembly Bill 32 in California, landmark global warming legislation. Efforts included a policy briefing in Sacramento, meeting with policymakers in Sacramento and in their district offices around the state, and signing petitions and letters educating legislators about the need to set a cap on greenhouse gas emissions to protect public health.
For more information, contact Linda at 415.282.8871 or linwiner [at] earthlink [dot] net
SACRAMENTO HOLDS SUCCESSFUL OPEN AIRWAYS FOR SCHOOLS TRAINING
The American Lung Association in Sacramento held a successful Open Airways For Schools training in November that drew 17 participants all eager to teach the program, including five firefighters, six nurses, and five nursing students. The training was the result of a targeted effort to enlist the Sacramento City Unified School District as well as area nurses and firefighters in the association’s ongoing effort to reduce the burden of asthma. The program, which helps kids learn how to better manage their asthma, is already being offered at one of the school district’s most diverse elementary schools and is slated for 10 more schools in the district this spring. For more information, contact Marcella Sciarrotta at 916.492.2470 or msciarrotta [at] alac [dot] org
RESEARCHER STUDIES TUBERCULOSIS BACTERIUM
Tuberculosis (TB) is a deadly disease that kills nearly 2 million people around the world each year. A researcher at the Western University of Health Sciences is hoping to reduce the death toll caused by TB. Beatrice Saviola, Ph.D, is studying how the bacterium that causes TB can sense environmental stresses and resist them to survive in the body in the hope that someday new therapies can be developed that target this mechanism and make the TB bacterium more susceptible to the immune system’s defenses. Her project is one of 12 funded by the American Lung Association of California, which granted nearly $700,000 to lung disease research in fiscal year 2006-2007.
For more information about funded projects, visit http://californialung.org/research/research.html
TELL A FRIENDForward this e-newsletter to friends, family and business contacts. Encourage them to subscribe for free at http://www.californialung.org. Signing up is easy. Just enter your e-mail address at the upper left corner of the Web site homepage below the logo.
DONATIONS FROM THE HEART Honor your sweetheart or special friend with a heartfelt Valentine’s Day gift of a tribute donation to the American Lung Association. It’s simple and meaningful. Visit http://californialung.org/donate/donate.html
UPDATE The number of votes in favor of Proposition 86, the tobacco tax initiative, reported in the November edition of Breath Matters was not the final tally. Now that all the ballots have been counted, the actual number of votes cast in favor of Proposition 86 was 4,136,358.
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