By Jeanette Donald for American Lung Association
According to current estimates, three out of every thirty students are living with asthma. Despite its prevalence, many schools try to deal asthma as it happens, one student at a time. However, through a document entitled Strategies for Addressing Asthma Within a Coordinated School Health Program, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention propose a more comprehensive and proactive approach to managing asthma in the schools. Implementing a proactive comprehensive asthma management program ensures the health and well-being of all students and staff with asthma or respiratory diseases. When schools provide an asthma-safe experience, students are better able to learn.
How does a school become Asthma-Friendly?
According to the American Lung Association/Kaiser Permanente report on asthma from December of 2000, a collaborative approach that addresses four significant areas is the best way to create an “Asthma-Friendly School.” The four major areas include:
- maximizing school health services;
- building asthma education and awareness;
- providing a healthy school environment; and
- creating a modified physical activity plan.
Getting Started
The first step in creating an Asthma-Friendly School is to create a community collaborative to assist the schools. The collaborative should include interested members of the community (including businesses and institutions), schools, and local government agencies that are united in their efforts to assist students and staff with asthma in the schools. This collaborative can be used to assess the schools, develop a comprehensive asthma management plan specific for the target schools, and help to fund and implement the plan. Often the community will have an asthma coalition already established that can function as the community collaborative.
The Value Of Comprehensive Asthma Management
An effective collaborative that promotes comprehensive asthma management has the potential of impacting the entire school community. Students with asthma can develop specific asthma management skills and improve communication with parents and school staff about their condition. Faculty and staff can learn how to use an Asthma Action Plan, respond to asthma emergencies, recognize signs of an asthma episode, help students manage mild episodes and provide asthma-appropriate physical activity. All students can gain a better understanding asthma so they can recognize signs of an asthma episode and know where seek help. They can also learn how to be more supportive of students with asthma. Finally, parents can become better able to manage their child’s asthma and open up the lines of communication with other parents, healthcare providers, and school staff.
As a result of such efforts, schools will:
- decrease asthma crises in schools;
- meet specific state health or education policy recommendations (if applicable);
- meet state/county law (if applicable);
- diminish potential liability issues;
- improve teacher productivity;
- decrease student absenteeism;
- improve communication systems among various departments/staff;
- address strategies to maximize school health services;
- decrease the number of school nurse visits;
- prepare staff to respond to specific emergencies;
- present opportunities to link with community partners;
- present opportunities for positive publicity; and
- help minimize bad publicity as a result of potential asthma crises and tragedies.
While establishing an Asthma-Friendly School can be a challenge, truly Asthma-Friendly Schools ensure success for the student, the staff, the school, and the community while minimizing the risks of an increasingly common chronic disease.
Hands-On Resources
To assist schools in organizing and creating a comprehensive asthma management plan, the American Lung Association has created an Asthma-Friendly Schools Toolkit. It features sample strategies that can be adopted and adapted by local communities to address asthma in their schools. There are also examples of documents that have been successfully used in schools in the past, including asthma action plans, health tracking forms, sample policies, letters to parents, posters, flyers, and more.
To facilitate tracking students and their asthma condition, the toolkit includes a free database based on a sample asthma case management form included in the toolkit. Nurses can compile different reports based on the data at the end of the year including details on an individual student’s asthma or an aggregate picture of asthma in that school over the course of the year.
The toolkit’s asthma planning section includes information on assessing your school and community, prioritizing needs, choosing appropriate strategies for implementation, and evaluating your success. It is targeted to community organizations and coalitions as a means to assist schools in implementing a comprehensive asthma management program without overburdening already busy schools. To access the Asthma-Friendly Toolkit, click here!
