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