Childhood Asthma Initiative

Archive File Hunts Point Asthma Action News

Winter 1998 - Vol.1, No.1

Introducing...Hunts Point Asthma Action News

Welcome to the new quarterly newsletter of the Community Asthma Project of the Hunts Point Childhood Health Promotion Initiative! Each quarter we will report on project activities, provide asthma information, and share future plans.

Big Changes Coming for the Community Planning Group in Year 2

The Community Planning Group of the Hunts Point Childhood Health Promotion Initiative (CPG) is dedicated to controlling childhood asthma. Members reside in or provide services to the Hunts Point community. During the first year of the project, the CPG worked with the project staff to help develop the project and to pilot several outreach and education efforts. The CPG members helped to make year one a success, and we are grateful for all their work, energy, and care!

As the Hunts Point Childhood Health Promotion Initiative enters its second year, big changes are in store. The staff will expand from one to seven people, and a permanent storefront location will be secured to house a resource center, training and counseling space, and an aggressive outreach and intervention program.

Reflecting these changes, the CPG will expand its function from providing advice and planning assistance to action. Asthma awareness programs, liaison between community groups, information gathering, and other community activities will be done by the CPG as part of the Initiative's overall effort to reduce asthma in Hunts Point.

Moving On

At its September meeting, the CPG decided to establish a more formal structure to facilitate the Year 2 objectives. A structure committee was formed to develop a set of "operational guidelines" to be presented for review at the January 13 meeting. The bylaws call for members to elect a steering committee and to establish active subcommittees.

For example, and education and outreach committee may be formed to conduct asthma awareness days or to provide asthma information in schools, daycare centers and libraries. It is anticipated that the "operational guidelines" will be ratified by the membership and that elections for 1998 officers and subcommittee formation will occur at the January meeting.

The staff of the Hunts Point Childhood Health Promotion Initiative and the members of the Community Planning Group invite you to participate. We will be effective only if we work together to improve the lives of our neighborhood children.

What We've Done: Celebrating Our First Year Accomplishments

The Hunts Point Childhood Health Promotion initiative launched its first activities in September 1996, with the establishment of a project focus on childhood asthma.

In the first year, a multifaceted approach was developed to ensure collaboration and active participation among parents, children, schools, community based organizations, and medical and social service providers. Through this partnership, a variety of activities were designed to increase knowledge about childhood asthma, assess community concerns and needs, address medical issues and practices, and support school based asthma education and management programs.

Some Specific Accomplishments

• Community Planning Group: An advisory group met quarterly to help develop project direction and activities.
• Asthma Workshop for Social Service Providers: In March, more than 50 people representing local social service agencies participated in an in-services workshop on asthma.
• Mother's Day Asthma Workshop for Parents: More than 60 parents were recruited through local groups, schools, Head Start, and community based organizations. Information, demonstrations, and resources were provided in collaboration with the American Lung Association.
• 2 Asthma Focus Groups: Parents were brought together to discuss their concerns, perceptions, and attitudes about their children's asthma to help the project in developing and appropriate asthma program.
• Camp Superkids: Nine Hunts Point children attended a week of summer camp in the Adirondacks featuring outdoor activities and asthma education.
• Health Fair on Childhood Asthma & Safety: On July 19, more than 26 social service and medical providers reached out to local community residents in a day-long fair on Manida Street. Local medical providers contributed information about local asthma resources. Eighty children received free ID kits through Project Kid Care, sponsored by Fidelis Care, Urban Health Plan, and North Central Hospital. Other activities included face painting, a clown, and a cartoon character show. Borough President Fernando Ferrer proclaimed the day, "Childhood Health Promotion Day."
• Open Airways: School nurses in PS 48, PS 60, and PS 75 received training to enable them to teach and asthma self-management program targeting children in grades three to five. PS 48 sponsored two courses of six sessions each, reaching 20 children.
• Physician Training: Columbia University provided a continuing education course on childhood asthma on June 3 and 4 for physicians serving the Hunts Point community.

Looking Ahead to Our Second Year

The Community Asthma Project will hit the ground running in 1998.

Our Themes for This Year

• Kids with Asthma Can Do Anything!
• Take Your Preventive Medicine.
• Make Your Home an "Asthma-Free Zone."
• Build Community Partnerships for Better Health.

Look for these exciting developments!

• The first Asthma Resource Center in New York City will open in early December.
• A team of community health workers will fan out into the community, helping families of children with asthma develop healthier homes, avoid asthma triggers, and learn more about asthma.
• A school survey of all children in PS 48, PS 60 and PS 75 will find out how much asthma there really is among children.
• The Outdoor environment subcommittee of the CPG is looking for people who are worried about the air quality in Hunts Point and want to work with us to identify and address the problems we face.
• A model asthma home management plan, developed by the Medical Advisory Committee, will be distributed, along with advice to providers and families on how to use it effectively to prevent and treat asthma episodes.
• More Open Airways programs will be provided for children in neighborhood schools.

How To Get Involved:

Call 718-861-5496, and ...

• Become a member of the Communiy Planning Group.
• Take the training to become an Asthma Resource Home.
• Bring your child to participate in our youth program.
• Participate in our community-wide activities

Our Mission

The mission of the Hunts Point Childhood Health Promotion Initiative is to improve the health of children and families in the Hunts Point community through the design in implementation of comprehensive prevention programs, linking medical care with community activities.

The Community Planning Group was established to guide and support the Hunts Point Initiative through planning, coordinating member activities, mobilizing resources, and ensuring community participation.

Our Goals

• Decrease sickness due to asthma among children in Hunts Point (zip codes 10474 and 10459), measured by fewer hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and sick days,
• Identify and address outdoor environmental issues contributing to the high rates of asthma in the Hunts Point community,
• Improve the diagnosis and management of children with asthma in the Hunts Point community, and ensure that all children in Hunts Point have access to quality medical care,
• Establish a community partnership to accomplish these goals.

Hunts Point Superkids

"I don't feel like an asthma kid anymore"

On a hot, sunny day last August, nine children from Hunts Point climbed aboard a bus heading for Camp Superkids in the Adirondack Mountains. Joined by Cathy Villegas, Project Coordinator, and Gloria Henderson, the nurse at PS 48, the children enjoyed a full week of hiking, swimming, sports and rock climbing.

Camp Superkids is sponsored by the American Lung Association. It is everything a kids' summer camp should be, with the added bonus of providing a session of asthma education every day. The kids learn about their lungs and the importance of taking their preventive medicine. And they learned the their asthma should not hold them back from doing anything.

The camp itself is fine medicine for children who don't often get the opportunity to spend time in the fresh air of the mountains. As Christina Williams (I.S. 74), one of two girls on the trip said so eloquently, "I don't feel like an asthma kid anymore!"

In Their Own Words...

William Hart, Jr. PS 48, Class 305, 8 years old

Camp Superkids was fun. We played baseball, dodge ball, and archery. The most fun thing was when some children put the flag up. I was one of them. I want to go back to Camp Superkids because it is a fun place to be for a week.

Floyd Avien 7 years old

I like Camp Superkids because I play outside basketball and baseball. I have fun swimming in the pool. There was a circle of kids and we talked about friends. I watched a movie called Casper. We ate dinner and breakfast and lunch. We talked about asthma. I'd like to go again.

Shnikk Floyd
Parent of a child with asthma and member for the Community Planning Group The Hunts Point Childhood Health Initiative has helped the Hunts Point community by starting an Open Airways Program to educated parents to understand more about the cause and prevention of asthma, to detect and attack, and to cope with illness. This program raised money over the summer for nine children from Hunts Point who have asthma to go away for a week to Camp Superkids. They also had a Health Fair during the summer that I found to be informative for anyone who attended. The Hunts Point Initiative has been beneficial to our community and our fight against asthma.

Announcements

• The Community Planning Group will meet on January 13 to finalize plans for Year 2. Come join us! Call 718-861-5496 for time and location.
• We are moving! Our new office address is 940 Garrison Avenue.

Hunts Point Childhood Health Promotion Initiative
940 Garrison Avenue
Bronx, NY 10474

The Hunts Point Childhood Health Promotion Initiative is a project of the New York City Department of Health and the Medical and Health Research Association, Inc.

The Asthma Action Line telephone number is 1-877-ASTHMA-0 or 1-877-278-4620.

June 1998