By Katrina Schwartz, The California Report/State of Health
California’s network of 230 school-based health clinics are set to incubate a new education program meant to address the environmental factors that trigger asthma attacks. The Environmental Protection Agency awarded a $600,000 grant to the Oakland-based Public Health Institute’s Regional Asthma Management & Prevention program. The program is now set to design a training program for the state’s school-based clinic staff on how to prevent and manage environmental asthma triggers in school, at home and in the community.
Asthma affects 900,000 children in California and 7 million children nationwide. The disease causes airways in the lungs to swell and narrow. This makes breathing difficult. Oakland’s network of school-based clinics have been on the forefront of providing asthma education and treatment to its school-age children, but will now have an added resource to address the environmental risk factors.
Read the complete story at The California Report/State of Health.
