Asthma Awareness Month Event Planning Kit deas for Asthma Awareness Activities A; lUIUlM"! May is Asthma Awareness Month! There is no better time to promote asthma education, including management of environmental triggers. Join EPA to plan an educational event for your community. Things to do include: Hold an asthma awareness event that is open to the public with elected officials and local celebrities. Ask your governor or mayor to issue an Asthma Awareness Month proclamation. Have an EPA or health official make a brief presentation on asthma and your organization's efforts to combat the disease. Issue a press release announcing the event (see template on page 11). c ffi Sponsor an asthma awareness event at a local school, library, hospital, health clinic, or state capitol. Partner with other local organizations involved in asthma education in order to pool resources and increase attention and publicity for the event. Find out if any local leaders or celebrities have asthma and ask them to participate in your event. Arrange to display and distribute asthma educational materials at local sporting events (e.g., baseball, soccer). Sponsor an asthma awareness event with your local PBS station featuring the All About Asthma module of the Arthur Health Curriculum and the "Buster's Breathless" episode of Arthur®. To visit Arthur®'s Web site, go to http://pbskids.orQ/arthur. ~ Ask local television and radio stations to include EPA's asthma and secondhand smoke public service announcements in their programming. Schedule local TV and radio interviews to talk about asthma and your organization's programs to educate the public on the role environmental asthma triggers play in the exacerbation of asthma. ~ Contact area health insurers and managed care organizations to promote asthma education. See page 9 for a list of possible activities. Contact the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) or the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) to arrange professional educational seminars, such as AAFA's "Asthma Management and Education Program," for health professionals. ~ Introduce local schools to the Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Kit to protect all children from asthma triggers. 2 ------- Event Planning Kit Asthma Awareness Month Ideas for Asthma Awareness Activities (continued) ~ Contact state or local education associations for support in sponsoring asthma awareness activities in your local schools. ~ Sponsor an asthma walkathon. Invite local partners, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies to provide asthma educational displays and materials. Contact area university medical schools and/or allied health programs such as nursing, respiratory therapy, or pharmacy to get their students involved in your event. Hold an asthma health fair offering free pulmonary screenings and education on environmental asthma triggers and management. Ask local partners, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies to provide educational displays and materials. ~ Ask local hospitals, clinics, doctors' offices, and pharmacies to display and distribute asthma educational materials. ~ Arrange to display and distribute asthma educational brochures at public libraries, community centers, or other popular places. ~ Ask local chapters of health professional organizations (i.e., respiratory therapists, nurses, pulmonologists, and pediatricians) to include articles in their newsletters on the role environmental asthma triggers play in the development and exacerbation of asthma, and encourage them to incorporate environmental control in their patients' asthma management plans. New Asthma Resources and Activities The Communities in Action for Asthma-Friendly Environments Change Package is a comprehensive tool, grounded in the Asthma Health Outcomes Project and the community-based chronic care, program improvement, and social change literature. The Change Package presents the key drivers of program success, including detailed information on strategies, activities, and methods for: developing committed leaders and champions; maintaining strong community ties; creating high-performing collaborations and partnerships; integrating health care services; and implementing tailored environmental interventions. This Change Package and other resources can be found at www.asthmacommunitynetwork.org. Each year, EPA hosts the Communities in Action for Asthma-Friendly Environments National Asthma Forum for community-based programs nationwide to gather, discuss strategies, and collaborate to improve comprehensive, community-based asthma management. This year, the event will be held May 31 - June 1, 2007, in Washington, DC. Visit www.epaasthmaforum.com to register for this event. 3 ------- |