CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System celebrated participating schools in its Mobile Pediatric Asthma Program by awarding $30,000 in health and wellness grants to those schools at a luncheon Monday.
Area districts and schools receiving grants include: Avinger, Bloomburg, Clarksville, Malta, McLeod, Mount Vernon, Hubbard, Simms, Hooks, Maud, Linden-Kildare, Texarkana, Redwater, Red Lick, Queen City, Avery, Atlanta, Liberty-Eylau, Hughes Springs, New Boston, Daingerfield, Pleasant Grove and Eylau Christian School.
"We are really pleased to be able to participate and celebrate with each of you," St. Michael President/CEO Chris Karam told school officials who attended a luncheon Monday at the hospital. "To extend the healing ministry of Jesus Christ we can't just work inside the four walls of this hospital. It's really exciting to see how this program is going. It impacts the quality of life for kids. It impacts home life and we know it impacts their school life."
The Mobile Pediatric Asthma Program is free to school-age children and provides asthma screenings, breathing tests, personal asthma management plans, parent and child education and follow-up care. From Sept. 1 to July 25, 550 children were served.
"Not only do we catch it earlier through this program, but we also evaluate kids who have asthma already and are being undertreated," said Wendy Gammon, family nurse practitioner and provider for the mobile asthma unit.
In addition to helping children with asthma achieve overall better health, the program also helps keep them in school.
"They don't miss school because they're not having to go to the emergency room four or five times a year so not only does it keep them healthy, it keeps them in school learning," Gammon said. "Asthma is actually the No. 1 reason kids miss school."
Symptoms of asthma include coughing that is worse with exercise, inhaled allergens, weather changes, stress and emotional outbursts; viral infections that go from just nasal and throat involvement to a bad cough that lasts more than 10 days; wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness/pain, fatigue, missing school because of respiratory symptoms and needing or choosing to sit out of fun activities.
Childhood asthma prevalence has increased by 75 percent overall from 1980 to 1994. Known cases of childhood asthma exceed 7 million in the United States, according to research.
As children grow older, they can become accustomed to asthma symptoms.
"They get used to not being able to breathe. They've adapted. They don't realize how sick they are, but we can figure that out with the pulmonary function testing we do," Gammon said.
Staff from the mobile pediatric unit work with school officials, particularly the school nurse, to enact the asthma program in schools. Appointments include the child's parent or guardian. Health care providers take the patient's history, perform a physical exam and pulmonary function testing-something that isn't available at every primary care provider.
"We determine whether they need medications or refills on medications. We always send them back to their primary care physician. We're not trying to take the place of their primary care provider. We want to work together with the provider because a lot of places in town don't have the pulmonary function testing," Gammon said.
The program grew last year, serving seven new school districts, and organizers hope that growth continues next year.
The Mobile Pediatric Program is provided by St. Michael in conjunction with Genesis PrimeCare. For more information about the Mobile Pediatric Asthma Program or to make an appointment for a free screening, call 903-748-8573.
