How can the answer be improved? The American Lung Association in New Jersey trained Boys & Girls Club Program staff to become certified facilitators of Open Airways for Schools as well as the Asthma Awareness Program. At the state level, the American Lung Association of the Mid-Atlantic also worked to ensure that prevention and cessation program funding was provided. The American Lung Association's Back to School with Asthma toolkit identifies the top ways schools can create an asthma-friendly school environment. Open Airways for Schools Program Elementary school children ages 8 to 11 can learn how to better manage their own asthma when they participate in the American Lung Association's Open Airways for Schools program.

1. American Lung Association Asthma Education
2. Asthma Basics American Lung Association

The American Lung Association’s Open Airways For Schools ® is a school-based curriculum that educates and empowers children through a fun and interactive approach to asthma self-management. It teaches children with asthma ages 8 to 11 how to detect the warning signs of asthma, avoid their triggers and make decisions about their health. Children who complete the Open Airways For Schools ® program should be able to: The Open Airways For Schools ® Facilitator Training consists of five modules that will prepare educators to deliver OAS. This Facilitator Training will teach participants to:. Recognize the characteristics and potential causes of asthma. Discuss the treatment and prevention of asthma symptoms in children. Teach the Open Airways For Schools ® program directly to students with asthma.

American Lung Association Asthma Education

Explain the objectives of the Open Airways For Schools ® program. Describe the development and overall evaluation of the OAS curriculum If you are interested in taking the Open Airways For Schools ® Facilitator Training, please contact your and request an enrollment key.

Students at Aloma, Brookshire, Hungerford, and Lakemont elementary schools have been participating in the American Lung Association’s Open Airways for Schools program this school year, learning how to manage their asthma so they can stay healthy, active and in school. Next school year, four additional elementary schools—Audubon Park, Cheney, Dommerich and Lake Sybelia—will have access to the program. With nearly one in 10 children in Florida suffering from asthma, the American Lung Association of the Southeast (ALASE) provides the program to local students to help them better control their chronic illness. The programs offered to students in the eight schools in Winter Park, Maitland and Eatonville—mentioned above—are supported with a $9,624 grant from the Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF). Designed for children ages 8-11, Open Airways for Schools (OAS) includes six 40-minute group lessons for children with asthma.

Asthma Basics American Lung Association

The sessions, led by trained volunteers, cover basic information about the disease, how to recognize and manage symptoms, how to use medication, how to avoid asthma triggers, getting enough exercise and how to succeed academically. The overall goals are to boost asthma self-management skills, decrease asthma emergencies and raise asthma awareness among parents and guardians. This year 27 students participated and completed the program at Aloma, Brookshire, Hungerford, and Lakemont, said Lynn Penyak, Health Promotions Manager, American Lung Association in Florida. “Students have been engaged with hands-on activities and experiences learning how to identify what causes their asthma symptoms to worsen, how to properly take their prescribed medication, and what critical, life-saving steps to take in an emergency situation,” she said. “Upon completion, the students celebrated their newly acquired knowledge with a culminating party, being declared ‘asthma experts.’” Facilitators say the program is making a difference in the lives of asthmatic students. “I know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the tools I have given these children will help save their lives,” said Justin Lynn, RRT, a program facilitator. “I have seen them (students) grow not only in wisdom and knowledge, but in confidence – a confidence that offers them the ability to not only lead a full, unhindered childhood but also gain success in life, simply by acquiring these fundamental principles for managing their disease.” Tori Sheahan, Nurse Practitioner at the Student Health Center at Glenridge Middle School, and Coordinator of the School Nursing Initiative in Winter Park Consortium Schools, is also pleased with the program’s impact.

“The efficacy of the program is absolutely proven to be the gold standard so we can be confident that we are making a positive impact on the lives of our asthmatic students,” she said. “Improving their asthma management improves their quality of life and their school attendance, which is of course a goal of the Coordinated Youth Initiative (CYI) programs.” (CYI is a collection of free, school-based health and wellness programs supported by the WPHF and offered in 12 Winter Park Consortium Schools, including Winter Park High School and its elementary and middle feeder schools. All programs are based on the belief that Healthy Kids Make Better Students.) Click to learn more about CYI. For more information about Open Airways, click.