Skip to contents
In This Issue:
Fundraising and Awareness Efforts Aimed at Care, Research and Prevention
Nearly 20 million Americans are diagnosed with asthma every year, and that number continues to climb with the highest rates in inner cities, like Dorchester and Roxbury. In May, National Asthma Awareness Month, employees from BWH and the Partners Asthma Center participated in activities to create awareness of the disease and help those with it breathe easier.
Christopher Fanta, MD, of the Partners Asthma Center, and Jacqueline Rodriguez-Louis, MPH, MEd, began offering an asthma course to the community three years ago. This May, the continuing education course drew about 60 participants—the biggest turnout yet—to the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Roxbury.
“We get great feedback on the course,” said Rodriguez-Louis, who runs the Community Asthma Program for Partners. “It’s taught simultaneously in English and Spanish.”
The course covers basic information about asthma, how to care for those with it and environmental factors that can trigger an attack.
“Many nurses, patient care assistants, case managers, child care providers and school teachers from Boston Public Schools attend,” Rodriguez-Louis said. “There are so many people affected by asthma, and the knowledge gained from this course is useful to people who care for or are in contact with them.”
During the course, Rodriguez-Louis also let participants test their own lung function using a spirometry device, which measures how much and how quickly a person can move air out of the lungs.
Also last month, Rodriguez-Louis organized a team to walk in the American Lung Association’s fifth annual Boston Asthma Walk. The team, which included Rodriguez-Louis’s family and colleagues from the Partners Asthma Center and the Asthma Research Center, raised $1,600.
“It was rainy, but we all still got out there because we believe in the cause,” said Rodriguez-Louis, whose 15-year-old son has asthma.