Asthma Awareness Campaign Focuses on Deadly Consequences

Asthma can be controlled with proper medications and other management techniques. As simple as that sounds, a recent American Lung Association survey showed a large number of people with asthma and their families don't really understand how to control the lung disease. Others don't even realize they or their children have asthma. These recent findings could have deadly consequences because asthma can kill when not properly treated.

"We need to teach kids and adults how to control asthma so it doesn't control them," said Jill Levine, associate director of lung disease programs at the American Lung Association of the Central Coast.

American Lung Associations in California are working hard to educate people with asthma, healthcare workers, school personnel and the general public about the lung disease, which affects an estimated 2.3 million Californians—the largest number in any one state. Last December, the American Lung Association of California launched a statewide asthma awareness campaign that featured a television public service announcement (PSA) urging viewers to "Get the Facts" about asthma.

The 30-second PSA was developed by the American Lung Association of San Diego and Imperial Counties and features a dramatic scene wherein paramedics are working on a 10-year-old boy who is having an asthma attack. The voice-over tells viewers, "No one worried when he coughed at night; when he kept missing school; when he couldn't run without wheezing. This child has asthma. If not properly treated, asthma can kill."

The PSA encourages people to call the lung association for a "Get the Facts" kit, which features a comprehensive educational guide that helps parents determine if their child has asthma symptoms and offers detailed information about seeking proper medical treatment.

"We need to teach people to know the warning signs," said Levine, who is working on the lung association's pilot project in Monterey County to screen school-age children for asthma symptoms.

Lung Association Programs Teach Asthma Management Techniques

Levine makes sure children with asthma in Monterey County are enrolled in the Open Airways For Schools program, which is taught in schools throughout California and is one of many American Lung Association programs aimed at helping people with asthma learn to control it. These programs help people understand what triggers their asthma, how to monitor it with a peak flow meter, and how to properly take medications, which includes using a spacer.

"A large number of people don't use their inhalers properly, which means the medication is ending up in the back of their throat instead of inside their lungs," Levine said.

It's hard to coordinate the action of activating the inhaler while taking in a breath at the exact same moment, she explained. A spacer is a tubular chamber that attaches to the end of an inhaler and traps the medication just before it is inhaled so that more medication reaches the lungs.

Peak Flow Meter Helps Monitor Symptoms

A peak flow meter is another important tool because it helps people with asthma monitor their symptoms. It is an inexpensive, hand-held device that measures the amount of air that can be pushed out of the lungs in one burst.

The American Lung Association has made important strides over the last few years to raise asthma awareness, including the passage of important asthma legislation in California that allowed daycare workers to operate nebulizers. Now the lung association is helping them learn how to use the mist machines, which deliver asthma medications into the lungs of children too small to use inhalers.

"We are making a big difference in the lives of people with asthma," Levine said. "I feel good about that."