Let's Get Moving! Exercise is Fun!

Chad Fenwick, Los Angeles Unified School District led the group on some fun exercises.

Collaboration and Policy: Building Blocks to Sustain IAQ/Asthma Programs

Joan Edelstein, MSN, DrPH, RN, brought her extensive experience as a clinician and educator in maternal/child health to the full-group afternoon session.   The first part of the session Joan lectured on asthma management.  She cited a quote from School Governance and Leadership, Spring 2003  “A school’s best protection against liability is having policies and procedures in place and being proactive.”   

The main course of instruction then became interactive.  She asked the teams to discuss their asthma policies.  By the end of the presentation, she said participants would be able to:

• Develop at least two strategies to sustain their asthma programs beyond the cooperative agreement cycle
• Describe at least two ways to work with school boards to implement policy on IAQ/Asthma
• Discuss the impact of district asthma policy on district liability
• List components to be added to adapt an IAQ/Asthma policy for their local school district

Building Support and Capacity at the State and Local Level

Lorene Alba of the American Association of School Administrators led one of the three morning breakout sessions using a checklist for school districts addressing the needs of students with asthma.  Her main question to the groups of three is "Who is making your ask?" Using interactive exercises, she empowered each group to come to their own conclusion using a facilitated process of discovery.

Each of the three groups came up with their own response to the "ask" question.  One group said it was critical to identify the person who we need to approach for approval and ask "what's in it for them?"  Their example was to promote an Asthma Educational Plan requiring four sessions at 35 minutes a piece.  Their "ask" was to pull the kids out of class 15 minutes before and 10 minutes after.  The reward for the principal?  The astma team does all the work, a win-win situation.  The result? A 20 percent reduction in absenteeism related to asthma.  Lorene told the team "If you are told no, then you didn't ask the right question."

Programs and Policy: Linking Asthma Outcomes to Policy and Building Support

Maureen Damitz and Joel J. Africk of Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago have been heavily involved in delivery of asthma self-management education to school children in Chicago using "Fight Asthma Now" an evidence-based, age appropriate program.  The duo led participants in one of the three morning breakout sessions. 

The attendees were broken down into four groups and each tackled issues related to: problem identification; development of success strategy; and identifying key stakeholders.  One group identified their issue as an introduction to using "green" cleaning products and integrated pest management to improve indoor air quality.  Joel gave the groups some advice related to numerical calculations.  "Underestimate the true number of the affected population.  If it's 300,000, tell them it's 200,000, that way they can't come back to you and say you were inflating your numbers.  Also, think of your case as a selling document."

We're In This Together--Engaging Parents and Families of Students With Asthma

Barbara Flis, Parent Action for Healthy Kids began her career as a presenter by being a volunteer in her children's classroom.  They are now 26 and 30.  "Lower your expectations of parents," she said. "The perfect parent? It's an illusion."  Her three-hour interactive presentation We're In This Together was a series of exercises meant to help asthma-related staff engage with parents and school district officials in a more compassionate and empowering manner. 

Her session's agenda for the morning:

• Re-framing our perceptions of parents
• Breaking down the barriers
• Tools and resources for authentic engagement
• Creating a plan and designing a program

Day Two -- Event Highlights

Holly Alperin, our event coordinator welcomed everyone to Day Two of Strengthening Our Practice: Building Asthma-Friendly Schools. She tells participants by the end of the day they will have:

--Learned skills related to parent/family engagement policy development, and/or engaging stakeholders to advance programmatic efforts

--Increased understanding of and strategies for implementing Indoor Air Quality (AIQ) related efforts and adding IAQ items to school district policy

New York City: Bump It Up!

"How do we help each Family Assistant understand that he/she plays a vital role in the life of a student living with asthma and residing in transitional housing?” This is the question that Jenelle Rose of the New York City Department of Education posed to the group. There are over 35,000 people living in New York City shelters, of those people, 8,213 are families with children, a staggering number of these cases relate to asthma. The liaisons to these families are the Family Assistants (FA) who reaches out to the parent/guardian of the children. They empathize with the family’s living condition, and understand the importance of the children in that demographic, staying in school.

The intake form or questionnaire right now is administered by the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) and the Department of Homeless (DOH). While the Family Assistants (FAs) were trained to complete the health questionnaires, there is inconsistent data being reported. The difference between the two questions: “does your child have asthma?” and “does your child wheeze at night?” results in irregular data, which becomes problematic for empirical research. Jenelle asked the group for suggestions on ways to align the data resulting in more meaningful outcomes. The group suggestions include:

• Agree that the first step is to form a common question to be asked from both groups
• Gather both DHS & DOA FAs together for a meeting and provide an in-service for each group
• Merge the surveys into one and make them both electronic
• Provide FAs training on ACT test and let them know how much bad data can cost the community
• Instruct FAs to inform the parents/guardians where the free clinics are located to enroll in Medicaid

Fresno: Bump It Up!

Glena Walke, team lead for Fresno told the group they spent a lot of time preparing a professional development (PD) presentation on asthma. Their goal was to offer two in the fall and two in the spring. Their expectations were high—they hoped at least 30 people would show up for the first session. Even though this PD was a “buy-back” a sort of credit for teaching hours, the turnout was low—only ten people attended. Glena said contributing factors to the lackluster attendance included the 3:30 – 5 p.m. timeframe, no district asthma policy and lack of mandatory attendance requirement. She asked the group for suggestions on new ways of getting this important asthma information out to teachers. The group suggestions follow:

• Videotape the first session and then post online for people to watch at their convenience
• Provide an incentive for attending such as $25 movie pass
• Go to the to individual school sites and make the presentations and include a certificate of completion
• Work with the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) to offer the training
• Take 15 – 20 minutes at a faculty meeting to provide short training
• Place the magnets (asthma or diabetes) that they put on buses somewhere noticeable

Albuquerque: Bump It Up!

The goal of the Albuquerque Public Schools is to improve middle school students’ self management of their asthma through education by providing individualized education with a minimum of classroom disruption. They have their own pilot guide called “Asthma Self-Management Education for Middle Schools.” The challenge was to teach this in a 15-minute window of instruction that addressed why students are having trouble controlling their asthma in middle school:

• Missing school
• Losing sleep
• Avoiding physical activity in PE and elsewhere
• Not doing their best at school
• Exposed to cigarette smoke and other triggers

Denine Gronseth, team lead asked the group for suggestions on ways to expand this program. The team suggestions include:

• Incorporate asthma into subject matter i.e. English – conduct journal writing exercise on asthma and allow for more classroom time instruction
• Generate a certificate for the non-smoking pledge from the EPA site
• Add stickers for the inhaler identifying its use
• Protect teens from second-hand smoke by asking family members to quit

The Epidemic of Childhood Asthma

“If you’re going to make a difference, then policy change is where the rubber meets the road,” said Floyd J. Malveaux, MD, PhD, the morning keynote speaker for Building Asthma-Friendly Schools. “We also need to talk with each other to assist these asthma students and help educate their families.” Dr. Malveaux considers himself a scientist who relies on evidence and from what he’s seen the evidence is mounting that creating an asthma plan is the way to reduce this quickly-growing epidemic.

The widespread and serious statistics associated with childhood asthma include: one in seven students ever diagnosed; nine percent of the student population has it; 60 percent of students had at least one attack in the past year. The costs are staggering: $8 billion in medical expenditures; an additional $10 billion in indirect costs; the humanitarian toll includes visits to the emergency room, missed learning opportunities and for some, death.

Dr. Malveaux suggested there are controllable factors that can help mitigate the impact of asthma including: stable and continuous health insurance; high-quality clinical and case management; continuous information exchange and progress monitoring; asthma trigger reduction in homes and communities; and research to learn more about what works.

Citing the Los Angeles Unified School District as an example of a successful partnership with ALA and CDC/DASH they provide case management for 400 children annually with excessive school absences, recent hospital care, and frequent emergency room visits. The results after monitoring progress for a year include a 76 percent increase of adherence to an asthma action plan resulting in less emergency room visits, fewer days wheezing, and greater school attendance. “I’ve heard someone say that health is not important,” said Dr. Malveaux, “to those I say, ‘health is indeed important.’“ For more information: visit Managing Asthma in the School Environment.

It's A New Day At CDC

Melissa Fahrenbruch, Professional Development Team Lead, said the most important thing Building Asthma-Friendly Schools attendees can take with them is to “learn something new: a concept, tools or resources. Also, try and meet someone new and continue networking.” Her presentation, “It’s a New Day,” offered attendees an overview of the CDC’s emphases: high accountability for improvements in health outcomes; strategic focusing; data-driven decision making; and stronger support to state and local agencies.

Melissa asked the group “How does our investment (DASH funds) in your professional development activities affect outcomes/impact at the state/local levels?” She said sometimes it’s a challenge to know unless partners document results by writing success stories. “It’s hard for us to brag if we don’t hear from you.” She offered tips to enhance professional development activities: work with your project officer—look at possible outcomes; attend events that relate to your work plan activities and narrow your focus. “There are ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ there’s a big difference between the two. Remember, we’re in this with you all.”

Albuquerque: Asthma Social Networking Website Project

Our Year 3 Workplan includes an objective that will create a youth advisory group that participates in the development of asthma education strategies for high school students.

What is the best way for high school students to obtain asthma information? Since many students frequent social networking sites for various reasons, would they use Facebook, Twitter,or other similar sites to obtain asthma information? If they would utilize this venue, what would they like to see on it? A focus group of high school students with asthma was conducted in May 2010. The information from this focus group will be used to help the APS asthma program decide whether to proceed and create a social networking website method to provide information about asthma. The questions asked were:

• What social networking sites are you aware of?
• Which social networking sites do you and your friends use most?
• New ways of doing things have advantages and disadvantages, what are some advantages to using social networking websites as a way to obtain information about asthma?
• What are some disadvantages to using social networking websites as a way to obtain information about asthma?
• If we do end up setting up a social networking website on asthma/diabetes, what kind of information would you like to see on such a website?
• If we do end up setting up a social networking website on asthma, what kind of formats would you like to see on such a website?
• If we do end up setting up a social networking website on asthma, what are your ideas on how we should promote/spread the word about such a website?
• During this discussion were you able to think of any more advantages or disadvantages to using social network websites as a way to obtain information about asthma?

Ask us about the results of the focus group!!!!

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
Denine Gronseth
Albuquerque Public Schools
gronseth@aps.edu
http://www.aps.edu/

Broward County: Creating Sustainability for Asthma Awareness and Education in Broward County

The School Board of Broward County (SBBC) was awarded a 5 year asthma grant from the CDC-DASH in 2008. Broward County Public Schools being the sixth largest school district in the country with approximately 16,000 students identified as having a diagnosis of asthma, the priority was and still is to provide education to students, parents, and school staff. Health Education Services began by reviewing and revising the SBBC’s existing asthma policy and procedures already in place, and developing a uniformed Student Asthma Action Plan. The Asthma Improvement Management (AIM) Program then set out to develop an age-appropriate asthma curriculum to provide students with asthma from grades K-8 asthma education, as well as parents and school personnel. In its infancy, Year 1, the AIM Program had limited capacity to promote and market asthma awareness and to deliver asthma education in BCPS and in the Broward County community.

By Year 2 the AIM Program expanded partnerships with the America Lung Association (ALA) and Nova Southeastern University, and developed a partnership with the Florida Center for Allergy and Asthma Care (FCAAC) which strengthened its capacity to promote, market, and deliver asthma education in Broward. Collaborating with our local community partners allowed the following accomplishments: The Student Asthma Action Plan was approved to replace the standard Medication Authorization form for students with asthma for School Year 2010-2011. Out of the 16 pilot schools in BCPS, 73% of the students identified with asthma now have a Student Asthma Action Plan on file at school. Asthma education was delivered to 1775 BCPS students, and to 2353 teachers, guidance counselors, administrators, custodial, clerical, transportation, teacher-aids, and cafeteria staff. Through collaborations with community partners AIM reached 382 parents by providing asthma updates and disseminated asthma brochures to 3488 individuals through community outreach. More recently asthma education has gained momentum as Memorial Healthcare System, the largest in South Broward County recognized the efforts of the AIM Program and will partner with us to market, promote, and deliver asthma education in BCPS and communities throughout Broward County.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
Adella Earle
School Board of Broward County
adella.earle@browardschools.com
www.browardschools.com/

Charlotte-Mecklenburg: Building Program Momentum and Sustainability through Successful Partnerships

The strength of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Asthma Education Program (AEP) has consistently been building successful partnerships that compliment and drive program goals and objectives. Partners include; Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS), Mecklenburg County Health Department (MCHD), CMS Health and Physical Education Department, Mecklenburg County Asthma Coalition (MCAC), Carolinas Health Care System (CHS), and Community Care Partners of Greater Mecklenburg (CCPGM). AEP is a collaboration between Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and the Mecklenburg County Health Department; this vital partnership has been the springboard to accomplishing asthma initiatives in schools.

A partnership with the Mecklenburg County Asthma Coalition (MCAC) is an example of one of the AEP’s strong collaborations. Working together, AEP and MCAC developed and provide Parent Asthma Education Classes throughout the community. This was made possible through funding from the American Lung Association’s Asthma Friendly Schools Initiative (AFSI) grant. Now completing the third year, the classes are now an ingrained curriculum piece in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Parent University; a system of courses offered FREE to parents and community members though Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS), through strong community partnerships. Classes are offered in schools throughout CMS reach a broader group of community members. AEP and MCAC also deliver annual asthma awareness events, clinical support and education to school nurses.

Together, these partnerships allow the AEP to successfully initiate asthma activities. Working together with partners, AEP builds momentum for programs and provides a means of sustaining successful asthma programs. These programs provide rich interventions for students with asthma that will improve health and academic outcomes to support students with asthma learn to manage their asthma and be successful learners.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
Elizabeth C. Burton
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Asthma Education Program
beth.burton@carolinashealthcare.org
www.cms.k12.nc.us/cmsdepartments/csh/AsthmaEdu/Pages/default.aspx

Fresno: Kickin’ Asthma: A School Based Asthma Education Program

In partnership with the American Lung Association in California (ALAC), Fresno Unified School District (FUSD) has launched the model school-based asthma education program, Kickin’ Asthma (KA), at eight FUSD middle schools.. Middle school students are targeted specifically for several reasons. Adolescents are known to have a higher prevalence of asthma, suffer more frequent exacerbations and have more near-fatal episodes compared to younger children. Parents of teens may have a reduced role in the management of their child’s health, but the student does not yet have the knowledge and skills to take full responsibility for their own care. By taking Kickin’ Asthma classes at their school the students learn self-management skills independent of their parents, thereby increasing their self reliance and confidence to begin to take charge of their asthma.

All 7th grade students in FUSD are offered a standardized asthma questionnaire, administered by a research team from the University of California San Francisco Medical School in Fresno. Using this information, students with the most severe asthma are identified. School nurses compare the list with information in health records to select the students to invite to the four classroom sessions. Our Kickin’ Asthma Program Coordinator, working with ALAC, facilitates the program at each school site, relieving the school nurses of the time-consuming tasks of preparing class materials, arranging lunches, notifying teachers, etc. The lunch-time classes are taught by college student interns who have been trained in Asthma 101 and in the Kickin’ Asthma curriculum by the KA Program Coordinator. The school nurses also receive training in the KA curriculum and play a supportive role. They receive feedback from the interns on students who could benefit from more help from the nurse, who then can provide further teaching for the student and parent, case management or referral to outside care, as appropriate.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
Glena Walke, MS, RN, Asthma Nurse Coordinator
Fresno Unified School District
Glena.Walke@fresnounified.org
http://www.fresnounified.org/

Houston: Asthma Action Plan ~ Systemwide Approach to Asthma Communication

Houston ISD Asthma Project has developed an Asthma Action Plan that serves as a “system-wide approach to asthma communication”. The Asthma Action Plan is a health management plan that serves many purposes. The HISD Asthma Action Plan is a medication sheet, consent to communicate with the health care provider, permission form for the student to self-carry and administrator quick relief medications, and permission form to receive “Open Airways” classes. This one document can replace four different HISD forms.

The school nurse provides the Asthma Action Plan (pdf) to the guardian to bring to the doctor. The school nurse and health care provider can fill out appropriate sections. As well as, provide asthma management education to the student and family. Once the Asthma Action Plan is completed and returned to the school nurse, it is distributed to all staff that interacts with this child. All staff who interact with this student will know how to manage this student’s asthma. Hence, the Asthma Action Plan serves as a “system-wide approach to asthma communication”.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
Teresa Wright Blake, RN, MPH
Houston Independent School District
tblake@houstonisd.org
www.houstonisd.org/

Los Angeles: PE Teachers Kick Asthma

As a coordinated program between the Los Angeles Unified School District and American Lung Association through their CDC-funded Asthma Friendly Schools Initiative grant, PE Department Chairs and over 800 PE teachers were trained in the basic physiology, identification and management of asthma (module 1) and actionable strategies to effectively deal with asthma scenarios at school (module 2). A pre-post survey measured changes in knowledge, attitudes and potential behaviors.

In a pre/post survey PE Teachers showed:

• 12% increase in their ability to identify asthma symptoms
• 7% increase in number who identified asthma as chronic disease controllable with medication
• 23% increase in number “very” comfortable identifying asthma triggers
• 24% increase in number “very” comfortable handling an asthma episode

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
Raymond Kohl
Los Angeles Unified School District
raymond.kohl@lausd.net
http://www.asthmala.com/

Milwaukee: Public Schools Works with Local Nursing Schools

The Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) Asthma Grant has been working with our very busy school nurses to provide asthmatic students with instruction in asthma management. No matter how we structured the classes, or adapted the instruction, the nurses were only able to reach a portion of the students supported by our grant.

Through a joint effort with the MPS nursing supervisors, we reached out to two local universities (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Alverno) that had nursing programs and asked if they would be interested in field experience placements for their nursing students to assist MPS schools with this asthma instruction. They were very interested and asked if we would be willing to train the nursing students to deliver our asthma education curriculum. We collaborated with Fight Asthma Milwaukee Allies to train 24 student nurses, and they are now working in pairs teaching this valuable educational program in 12 of our asthma grant schools. We have had very positive feedback from the MPS nurses, the student nurses, and have been approached by the universities about expanding the program next year.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
Bruce Dreyer
Milwaukee Public Schools
dreyerbg@milwaukee.k12.wi.us
www.wellnessandpreventionoffice.org/asthma.html#ue

New York City: Keys to ASSIST – School Nurse Training

In the summer of 2009, NYC ASSIST (Asthma Support Services In Schools and Transitional housing) successfully trained > 900 New York City public elementary school nurses who serve students residing in homeless shelters/transitional housing. Nurses received training on recognizing this unique transient population as well as what services are available to care for them. Students attending NYC public elementary schools who live in temporary housing are entitled to many services granted to them through the McKinney –Vento Act; one of which is free health care through Medicaid. The school nurses are intended to connect these students who are suspected to have asthma to appropriate health care services.

NYC ASSIST designed a high impact and high energy, interactive training curriculum. The “Keys to ASSIST” model outlined key staff and partners at the school level who can aid in asthma case identification for students who attend NYC public elementary schools who live in homeless shelters/transitional housing. The goals of NYC ASSIST were also outlined to emphasize the severity of asthma in this group of students.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
Jasmin Khargi
jkhargi@health.nyc.gov

San Diego: Asthma Trigger Night

The San Diego Unified School District Nursing & Wellness Asthma Management Project and the American Lung Association San Diego chapter are primary members of the San Diego Regional Asthma Coalition. A sub-coalition group in City Heights/San Diego formed near the beginning of the cooperative agreement after a 12 year old child died at home of asthma. This group named itself the Community Asthma Task Force and members include the central region Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Nurses, School Nurses, the Coordinator of the Regional Asthma Coalition, a retired physician, a representative of the Children’s Hospital and the health services director of a public foundation of City Heights.

Monthly meetings were convened to explore the current state of asthma in City Heights and to begin to understand the dynamics or factors that may have been involved in the young girl’s death. Sharing with each other the systems approach of the public health department, the school district and some of the medical records of the child we examined the way we move children with asthma through the public institutions.

Hopefully we have learned or refined some of our practice. This is the intent of the CDC/DASH cooperative agreement to help schools and neighborhoods become Asthma Friendly through the involvement of vital stakeholders and children with asthma.

We held a press conference on World Asthma Day in May of 2009. A County Supervisor led a group of other speakers regarding asthma management and the need for Asthma Action Plans. Asthma Night at the City Heights Wellness Center was held in May 2010. The majority of the parents that meet monthly at the Wellness Center are immigrants from East Africa, mostly Somalia. Other residents are from Latin America. Thirty six parents attended the event. They received information about our School Management initiative, about how to obtain an Asthma Action Plan from their health care provider and information about the City of San Diego Healthy Homes Project. Please see the attached announcement flyer for more information. We have not had time to evaluate outcomes as the event was just held last month.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT

Stephen Martin
San Diego Unified School District
smartin5@sandi.net
Sandi.net

Lorene Alba -- Fun Facts

• Something I do to "Strengthen My Practice"...Find ways to stay connected to my personal mission: Helping children and adults with asthma gain the skils and education to self-manage their disease and live full, active lives
• Something I have been a part of "building" is...The Asthma & Allergy School Nurse Expert Program, a curriculum that prepares school nurses to become certified asthma educators and become mentors to nurses in their school districts to iprove asthma outcomes for students
• A fun fact I would like to share with the audience...My college degree is in culinary arts, and I did my internship with Emeril Lagasse at NOLA restaurant in New Orleans, and owned three restaurants of my own

Joan Edelstein -- Fun Facts

• Something I do to “Strengthen My Practice”…Collaborate as much as I can to both share resources and learn from others
• Something I have been a part of “building” is…A statewide collaborative to implement the California State Strategic Plan for Asthma 2008-2012, the schools section. The collaborative is called the State Environmental Health and Asthma Collaborative (SEHAC)
• A fun fact I would like to share with the audience …Because of some unique life experiences, I have learned to shoot both an Uzi and M-16 rifle

Joel Africk -- Fun Facts

• Something I do to “Strengthen My Practice”… I remind myself regularly that no one organization alone can solve the problems confronting us
• Something I have been a part of “building” is… A local and then a statewide COPD coalition
• A fun fact I would like to share with the audience …I used to practice law and a young Chicago lawyer named Barack Obama had his first deposition against me

Maureen Damitz -- Fun Facts

• Something I do to “Strengthen My Practice”...Engage with and listen to community members at all levels and value their opinion
• Something I have been a part of “building” is…The asthma programs at Respiratory Health Association and the asthma Community in Chicago
• A fun fact I would like to share with the audience …In the past 8 years we have educated over 12,000 with asthma in schools.

Barbara Flis -- Fun Facts

• Something I do to “Strengthen My Practice”… Remain more curious than afraid!
• Something I have been a part of “building” is…Reframing the perception of parents from negative to positive!
• A fun fact I would like to share with the audience …I still have my President Kennedy Physical Fitness Certificate!

NPD--Building Asthma-Friendly Schools: Let's Go!

Welcome to the National Professional Development's event blog  Building Asthma-Friendly Schools: June 29-July 1, 2010 .  Holly Alperin opened up the conference with the purpose of our gathering:

• improving the quality of asthma management programs at the local level
• addressing the needs of students with poorly controlled asthma
• increasing the asthma management knowledge and awareness of parents and families of students with asthma

We will post announcements, additional speaker highlights and cover stories at this NPD event as they unfold. You may even be contributing! Keep in touch. We are looking forward to a successful event and hope that you will enjoy this event as much as we have putting it together.

~ Holly Alperin & Kim Coates

Joan Edelstein, MSN, DrPH, RN

Joan Edelstein, MSN, DrPH, RN, has extensive experience as a clinician and educator in maternal/child health as well as community health. She was a Professor of Nursing for 22 years at San Jose State University, received her MSN in Pediatric Nursing and PNP certification from Yale University, and received both an MPH and DrPH in Maternal/Child Health at UC Berkeley School of Public Health.

After leaving academia, Joan worked for Oakland Unified School District as School Nurse, Asthma Specialist through a CDC Controlling Asthma in American Cities Project grant, where she helped develop and implement the Kickin’ Asthma program. She then worked for the Alameda County Public Health Department in a jointly funded position with the Oakland Unified School District as Health Services Coordinator, successfully implementing model policies to support student and staff health, including an Asthma Management Policy.

Most recently, Joan finished working on a grant through The California Endowment as a Senior Health Consultant with the California School Boards Association focusing on Asthma Management and IAQ Policy statewide. In that position, she lead efforts to create, and now chairs, the California State Environmental Health and Asthma Collaborative (SEHAC) to implement The Strategic Plan for Asthma in California, schools section. She also chairs California Asthma Partners, a statewide network of governmental and non-governmental organizations, agencies, institutions, coalitions, collaboratives, and other programs working to implement The Strategic Plan for Asthma.

Joan has co-authored publications on Kickin’ Asthma in schools and has presented on asthma and IAQ in schools at the local, national, and international levels. She currently works as School Nurse Coordinator for the Emery Unified School District in Emeryville, CA.

Barbara Flis

Barbara Flis, Founder of Parent Action for Healthy Kids, insists that every parent has the power to make a difference. Barb is a parent guru, and published expert in advocating for children's health. Her focus lies in connecting families, schools and communities on children's social, emotional and physical health. She designs and implements trainings and workshops for parents, teachers, school administrators, public health professionals and community-based organizations. Barb is a motivational speaker whose passion makes her a sought after presenter throughout her home state of Michigan and across the United States.

Barb cites her grass-roots PTA experiences as the first step on the journey that has led her to serving on an expert panel for the American Academy of Pediatrics to write guidelines for family and community involvement in health, mental health and safety in schools; being named chair of the schools committee for the Michigan Surgeon General’s Michigan Steps Up Campaign; and a Michigan and Indiana core team member for the American Cancer Society Coordinated School Health Leadership Training Institute. In 2005 Barb was appointed by Michigan’s Governor Jennifer Granholm to coordinate the Talk Early & Talk Often initiative which is designed to help parents gain knowledge and skills to talk to their middle school children about abstinence and sexuality. A tribute to Barb’s work is evidenced by her recent invitation to Washington D.C. as one of ten participants to provide input in developing the First Lady's Let's Move initiative which is designed to reduce childhood obesity and raise a healthier generation of children.

Barb has been advocating on behalf of parents and children for more than fourteen years. Her “parent-to-parent” style in communicating has won her great praise and national media attention.  Barb brings to educators and other key stakeholders at the local, state and national level, a unique parent perspective which has broadened collaboration between parents, communities and schools.

Maureen Damitz, AE-C

Maureen brings nearly 20 years of experience to her work in community asthma. The Senior Director of Programs for the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago, Maureen oversees all asthma programming including community, school and professional outreach. Maureen is the Director of the Addressing Asthma in Englewood Project (AAE). One of five sites funded nationwide to address asthma in a pediatric population form the Merck Childhood Asthma Network Inc.

Maureen serves on the Illinois Asthma Partnership, and is currently chair of the Education committee. Maureen is past-board chair of the Chicago Asthma Consortium and an active member of its School Task Force, Professional Education Task Force and Chair of the Community Asthma Network. Additionally, she serves as Chair for the Greater Humboldt Park Community of Wellness Asthma Task Force. Maureen has presented at numerous conferences on the topic of asthma, as the parent of two children with asthma and also as a professional working in the community to address and reduce its impact.

Joel J. Africk

Joel Africk is President and Chief Executive Officer of Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago, where he oversees the activities of the Association’s 50-person staff and an annual budget of $5+ million. At Respiratory Health Association, Joel is a principal advocate for the Association’s policy agenda (the Association’s accomplishments include work on policy efforts to permit self-administration of asthma inhalers in Illinois, passage of Smoke-free Chicago and Smoke-free Illinois legislation, and the expansion of student health initiatives in Chicago).

Prior to assuming his current position, Joel was a partner in the Chicago law firm of Jenner & Block, LLP, where he represented clients in a broad range of business litigation matters. Joel is a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, where he received a degree in Political Science and passed the Uniform CPA examination.

Lorene Alba, AE-C

Lorene Alba joined the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) in July 2009 as project manager for asthma programs. Her main focus is to manage the Leadership Forum for Healthy Students and Healthy Schools, a collaborative to build the capacity of five states to reduce the burden of asthma in schools at the state level.
Lorene is a certified asthma educator, and comes to AASA from the American Lung Association, where she was manager of mission services for lung health. In this role she implemented programming on asthma management in schools which focused on underserved, rural and urban communities throughout Virginia and North Carolina. Lorene recruited and trained volunteers to facilitate programs through a train-the-trainer model, and has also facilitated asthma education sessions.

Lorene testified in front of the Virginia General Assembly on multiple occasions to advocate for children with asthma, asking legislators to support and pass comprehensive tobacco-free policies in public places. She played a major role in the passing of the legislation banning tobacco in restaurants that went into effect in Virginia in December 2009.

Lorene is the past vice-chair of the Virginia Asthma Coalition, past chair of Allies Against Asthma, and a steering committee member of the Consortium for Infant and Child Health (CINCH). CINCH honored Lorene with two awards in 2008 – the Community Change Agent Award and the Advocate for Change Award, and one in 2009 – Child Health Advocacy Award. She co-founded the Asthma and Allergy School Nurse Expert Program, an educational and mentorship program for school nurses to become Certified Asthma Educators and to create asthma-friendly schools. Lorene created a curriculum to teach medical professionals how to educate the lay person on asthma at the request of a Medicare provider in Virginia and has been presented at numerous in-services.

Floyd J. Malveaux, MD, PhD

Floyd J. Malveaux, MD, PhD is Executive Vice President and Executive Director of the Merck Childhood Asthma Network, Inc. (MCAN) that supports translational research and implementation of science-based initiatives into routine medical practice. Dr. Malveaux is a nationally recognized expert on asthma and allergic diseases and is Emeritus Dean of the College of Medicine and Professor of Microbiology and Medicine at Howard University. His research contributions extend from basic research on the regulation of IgE receptor density on human basophils to translational research and development of evidence-based interventions to reduce and prevent asthma among high-risk populations.

A native of Louisiana, Dr. Malveaux received a B.S. degree from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, and a M.S. degree from Loyola University in New Orleans. He earned a Ph.D. degree in Microbiology and Public Health from Michigan State University and the Doctor of Medicine degree, with honors, from Howard University College of Medicine. Dr. Malveaux received specialty training in Internal Medicine and subspecialty training in Allergy and Clinical Immunology. He became Dean in 1995 of the Howard University College of Medicine, interim Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean (1996-2001), Vice Provost for Health Affairs and Dean (2001-2003), and remained Dean of the College of Medicine and Professor of Microbiology and Medicine at Howard University until July 2005.

Dr. Malveaux is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. He is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. He was recently appointed by the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to her Science Advisory Board. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Creighton University; Board of Trustees of Loyola University (New Orleans); Board of Directors of Children's Research Institute of the Children's National Medical Center, and the Horizon Foundation. He was Past Chair of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International, member of the Board of Directors of the American Lung Association; the National Allergy and Infectious Diseases Advisory Council of the NIH; the Board of Trustees of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, and the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the NIH, and member of the Board of Trustees and first chair of the Allergy/Immunology Section of the National Medical Association.

Dr. Malveaux is recipient of numerous awards, including the National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health; the Vivian B. Allen Foundation Fellowship; the Clemens von Pirquet Research Award from the Georgetown School of Medicine; the Outstanding Faculty Research Award, the HUH Legacy of Leadership Award, and the 2010 Distinguished Postgraduate Achievement Award in medical education, research and international health all from Howard University; and the Soar High Leaders Award from the Institute for the Advancement of Multicultural and Minority Medicine.

Chicago: Building a Foundation at Chicago Public Schools

Chicago has an asthma epidemic; this has been the case for many years. Those that are impacted the most in Chicago are children in underserved communities and most of those children attend our schools. We are the 3rd largest district in the country and have many challenges that we must face in order to meet the needs of our students. We decided as a district and with our community partners that in order to best meet those needs we had to establish a foundation of knowledge and a plan for sustainability that has never before existed. We worked with our district nurses, community health care providers, and community partners to develop and implement an asthma management educational program that would provide the basic and most relevant information to all of our district clinicians. These clinicians include: nurses, social workers, psychologist, occupational therapists, physical therapist, and speech therapist.

In April 2009, training for school nurses began and included a minimum of 3 hours of professional development on asthma impact, treatment (NHLBI guidelines), and management in a school setting. This training was provided by La Rabida Children’s Hospital and the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. In addition, 29 of our school nurses were selected to attend the Asthma Educator Certification Training in order to establish a cadre of nurse asthma experts in our district that will help to guide and inform ongoing educational initiatives and training. All other clinicians have been offered a minimum of 1.5 - 2 hour educational session on asthma in addition to information on the social emotional impact that asthma has on children. This training was provided by the Asthma Project Manager in collaboration with Licensed Clinical Social Workers. Due to demand we also extended our training to physical education instructors and coaches. We focused on issues of obesity and asthma and best practices for including children with asthma in physical activity. This training was provided by the Asthma Project Manager in collaboration with Respiratory Health Association and the Chicago Park District’s Wellness Specialist.

To date the Chicago Public School’s Asthma Management Project has trained:

• 143 PE Teachers & Coaches
• 212 School Nurses (Clinical Asthma Training)
• 29 School Nurses (Asthma Educator Certification Training)
• 165 School Psychologist
• 130 School Occupational Therapist & Physical Therapist
• 341 School Social Workers
• 1,020 Clinicians

We will continue to implement these trainings; we still have many clinicians to reach. We are also focusing our efforts on the development and accessibility of online training and educational material for our district in order to maximize our reach to school personnel such as teachers, custodians, and building engineers in addition to the in person trainings that many attend through our community partners.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
Lilliana DeSantiago, MSW
Chicago Public Schools
ladesantiago@cps.k12.il.us
http://www.cps.edu/