Posted Date: 12/31/2009
Senator Barbara Boxer’s appropriation request for a second year of funding for Kaweah Delta Health Care District’s Asthma Outreach Project has been approved.
Ten years ago, the San Joaquin Valley won the dishonorable designation of having the worst air in the country. The Valley is considered the “asthma” capital of California – with one in every six children in the area suffering from asthma – six times the national rate.
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the lungs characterized by recurrent episodes of breathlessness, wheezing, coughing and chest tightness. Asthma requires regular attention from health care providers.
Many of Tulare County’s asthma sufferers have a difficult time managing this disease and all too often, find themselves unable to prevent asthma “attacks,” leading them to seek necessary lifesaving treatment in emergency rooms. Last year, Kaweah Delta treated close to 1,400 patients for asthma in its emergency room. 435 of whom were children. In fact, over half of those were children 0-5 years old, the fastest growing age group of children diagnosed with asthma. A report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that between 1980 and 1994, the number of children 0-5 diagnosed with asthma increased by 160 percent.
Kaweah Delta partners with the American Lung Association. Tulare County Asthma Coalition and various other regional air quality and environmental groups to implement this project in the rural communities of Exeter, Farmersville, Ivanhoe, Lindsay and Visalia. The project includes clinical case management services, home visits to provide an environmental evaluation, education and remediation, community awareness and policy/advocacy work.
The goal of the project is to increase awareness about the onset of asthma attacks to allow patients or care providers to catch them at the earliest stage or to avoid them completely. The goal is to reduce doctor visits, emergency room visits, hospitalizations and the number of days children are unable to participate in play activities or attend school. Kaweah Delta’s asthma project is coordinated through the Community Outreach Department.
“We are very pleased with Senator Boxer’s support and we will continue to provide quality education and services to the patients in this area,” said John Tyndal, director of Community Outreach.
(written by The Valley Voice 12/31/2009)
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