Guest Viewpoint: School board policies can help children with asthma

My reading list changed from Stephen King novels to the Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics (AANMA) newsletter, The MA Report. Founded in 1985, AANMA is a national nonprofit health organization whose mission is to eliminate suffering and death due to asthma and allergies through education, advocacy, and community outreach.

Food allergies, pets in the classroom, and students not allowed to carry inhalers at school were just a few of the issues that came up when my children started school. Like many other moms, I reached out to AANMA for help.

AANMA’s Outreach Service Coordinator program was new then, and I joined immediately. These outreach coordinators offer allergy and asthma resources to school administrators, teachers, parents, and health professionals and help them use these resources successfully. AANMA supports them with information resources, educational training, and guidance on how to advocate for families with allergies and asthma in their community.

In 1998, AANMA held its first Asthma Awareness Day on Capitol Hill to focus attention on  issues important to children and families living with asthma and allergies. At the time, the “zero-tolerance” movement of the 1980s and 1990s had the unintended consequence of depriving millions of young people with ready access to the medications they need to live.

The decision on whether or not students with asthma or anaphylaxis could carry their life-saving medication while at school was not made by physicians and parents. Rather, it was subject to policies that differed from school to school and from year to year. Each year, schoolchildren died on playgrounds, in classrooms, and in nurses’ offices.

By 2001, after state-by-state efforts failed to change this system, a nation of parents came together to take their message to Congress. They found champions in Reps. Joe Barton (R-Texas), Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), and Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), who were concerned that few states protected students’ rights to carry and use asthma and anaphylaxis medications at school.

In May 2003, Stearns and Kennedy introduced the Asthmatic Schoolchildren’s Health Management and Treatment Act to create incentives for states to protect students’ rights. At the time this legislation was introduced, only 18 states had laws protecting students’ rights to carry and use their inhalers, and only nine of these states protected students with anaphylaxis.

Today, thanks to thousands of dedicated AANMA families and supporters, 46 states have enacted laws to protect students’ rights to carry and self-administer their inhalers, and 35 states protect students with anaphylaxis.

But our work to protect all students with asthma and anaphylaxis has just begun. School boards across the nation can help educators, parents, and students become familiar with the new state laws and complete the required health care forms. School boards also can educate school personnel about ways to prevent and manage symptoms of breathing emergencies at school.

Teaching our children to be responsible for their health is an ongoing process. As students mature and develop new skills, they need to take more responsibility for their asthma and anaphylaxis.

Parents, students, and physicians working together with school staff can ensure these students develop life-prolonging habits. Students who carry and use their own asthma and anaphylaxis medications should continue to keep a backup supply of medications in the school nurse’s station or clinic.

This fall, we drove our youngest child, Shannon, to college. Preparation for this big step included Shannon not only signing up for courses and buying her books but also making the necessary arrangements to keep her asthma under control.

Throughout Shannon’s years of school, we worked together with her physician and school nurse to help Shannon take ownership of her asthma and stay healthy. As I now send her off to college, I am confident she will stay healthy and safe because of everyone’s efforts during her earlier school years.

It’s been a long journey, but one that every family can make successfully with the right information and tools. Our family is just one of the many AANMA has helped complete the journey in good health.