Improving Life, One Breath at a Time

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Improving Life, One Breath at a Time
1-800-LUNG-USA
www.lungusa.org
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Asthma-Friendly Schools Initiative (AFSI)

• Funded by CDC Division of Adolescent and School
  Health
• Based on Kaiser/ALA report from November of 2000
• Developed tools using input from
• ALA locals
• National Partners
• Federal Government
• National Experts

www.lungusa.org
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Asthma-Friendly Schools Initiative Goal

• To assist local communities and community
  organizations in planning and implementing
  comprehensive asthma management programs within
  their local schools and existing school structure

www.lungusa.org
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Asthma-Friendly Schools Initiative

• Comprehensive Asthma Management
• Coordinated School Health Model
• Uses community to assist school
• Existing school structure
• Reduce burden on school

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Asthma-Friendly Schools Toolkit

• Use to plan and implement a comprehensive school
  asthma management program
• Not a program in a box or to be distributed to
  schools for implementation
• Each community assesses their own needs
• Use toolkit to determine how to address those
  needs

www.lungusa.org
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Sections of the Toolkit

• Community Asthma Planning
• Maximizing School Health Services
• Building Asthma Education and Awareness
• Providing a Healthy School Environment
• Physical Education
• Resources

www.lungusa.org
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Asthma Incident Reporter Database

• Developed for use in schools
• Free
• Uses the case management form in the toolkit
• Tracks students with asthma within a school
• Download from the AFSI Website www.lungusa.org/afs
  i or included on the toolkit CD-ROM

www.lungusa.org
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Database Reports

• Three quick reports
• Individual Student Report
• School Nurse Case Management Detection Report
• School Summary of All Students with Asthma
• Sort by school and date and can print with or
  without names
• Data can be exported for more complete analysis

www.lungusa.org
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Current Activities

• Starting Year 5 of a 5 year cooperative agreement
  with CDC
• Year 1-3 was development of the tools
• Year 4 and 5 are a pilot project to evaluate how
  well the tools assist local communities in
  achieving their goals around comprehensive asthma
  management in schools

www.lungusa.org
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AFSI Pilot Sites

• Phoenix, Arizona
• San Bernardino, California
• Sonoma, California (funded by Kaiser Permanente)
• Wichita, Kansas
• Flint, Michigan
• Eastern Shore, Maryland
• Cleveland, Ohio (funded by Kaiser Permanente)
• Spokane, Washington

www.lungusa.org
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AFSI Evaluation

• Conducted by the national American Lung
  Association
• First year program planning
• Evaluation is mostly process (how is the
  implementation going) vs. outcome (what are the
  results of the implementation) for year 1

www.lungusa.org
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Early Evaluation Findings

• Year 1 of pilot project completed December of
  2004
• First year primarily planning
• Early Interesting Findings
• Form Follows Function
• Strong project manager
• Strong commitment by schools
• State health department participation

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Samples of Priority Areas for Year 1

• Asthma Education
• School Staff
• Students with Asthma
• Parents
• Physical Education
• Asthma Policy Review and Revision
• Track Students with asthma

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Evaluation Findings

• Pilot project will be completed December of 2005
• Publication of results should be in Spring of 2006

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Benefits

• Utilizes community resources
• Creates a long term plan for the schools
• Allows coalition to do most of the work
• Allows for future funding of individual
  strategies within the larger plan
• Reduces the burden on the schools
• Plan for institutionalization and evaluation

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Challenges

• Coalition needs time to plan
• All participants must be active and willing
• Long term planning is hard work
• Schools need to be at the table from the
  beginning
• Funding for planning processes isnt always
  available

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Replication

• Evaluation of planning process
• Worked in all eight sites
• Most sites felt could have done without funding
  by folding into normal coalition activities
• Dedicated coalition staff made the process much
  easier
• Convincing the coalition of the value of planning
  is a large challenge

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Contact Information

• Jeanette Donald
• American Lung Association
• 1150 18th Street NW, Suite 900
• Washington, DC 20036
• 202-785-3355 (Tuesdays)
• 301-809-3931
• jdonald_at_lungusadc.org
• schoolasthma_at_earthlink.net
• www.lungusa.org/afsi

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Improving Life, One Breath at a Time
Lung disease is the third leading cause of death
in America. Over the last decade, the death rate
from lung disease has been growing faster than
the rate from almost any other leading
killer. Since 1904, the American Lung
Association has been fighting lung disease
through education, community service, advocacy,
and research. We are working to help those who
suffer from lung disease today, and to stop the
spread of lung disease tomorrow. To succeed, we
need your support. Contact your local Lung
Association to find out how you can join the
fight.
www.lungusa.org