Plan an Event for Asthma Awareness Month in May

March 13, 2008 - Asthma is the leading cause of school absenteeism.  According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), asthma affects approximately 22 million people of all ages and races within the U.S., and more than six million of those are children.  Asthma is the most common serious chronic illness among children, and accounts for one third of all pediatric emergency room visits.  Despite these statistics, public awareness of common asthma triggers and asthma management remains limited.

May is Asthma Awareness Month.  Throughout May, several organizations will hold activities to increase public awareness of the asthma epidemic.  To encourage and help local organizations around the country plan activities and events, the EPA developed the Asthma Awareness Month Event Planning Kit.  

The Kit includes ideas for planning community asthma events; event spotlights to communicate successes peers have had in the past; as well as various sample materials.  The Kit also provides several ideas to promote asthma education, including management of environmental triggers.

What Your Schools Can Do

The Kit offers an entire section to help plan an asthma education event in schools and lists ten ways to mange asthma in the school environment.  According to the EPA, to plan an educational event at a school, it is important to get the support of the school or district administration, school nurse, and other key staff. 

This section of the Kit includes several ideas for school events including:

• Offer asthma education on environmental asthma triggers and management during in-service days for teachers, custodians, and other school staff;
• Arrange a school-wide assembly with guest speakers, such as kids with asthma, local celebrities, TV personalities or local doctors or politicians; and
• Encourage teachers to incorporate asthma and the environment into appropriate curricula. 

To help schools plan an event that will have a broader reach, the Kit also includes media outreach tips, a press release template, a list of Asthma Awareness Month national organization contacts as well as EPA regional contacts, and a sample proclamation from a local official.

In addition, organizations have the opportunity to publicize their event on EPA’s website.  EPA materials may also be ordered to help develop the event.    

For additional information, please contact:

U.S. EPA/Office of Air and Radiation
Indoor Environments Division
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Mail Code 6609J
Washington, DC 20460
Phone: (202) 343-9370
Fax: (202) 343-2394

Source: “Asthma Awareness Month Event Planning Kit,” EPA.