New England Healthy Air Network Launched with Webinar!

The Healthy Air Network (HAN), a project of the Public Health Institute of Western MA (PHIWM), Krystal Pollitt, PhD, P. Engineering, Yale School of Public Health (Yale) and the MA Asthma Action Partnership (MAAP) at Health Resources in Action, hosted a webinar on Thursday, February 16th, 2023 to connect with air quality stakeholders in New England. The webinar was an opportunity for stakeholders to learn how they could connect their air quality sensors to HAN’s website, which will serve as a universal platform to provide real-time, easily accessible, actionable data for any interested community across MA and New England monitoring for PM2.5 (and O₃ (ozone) where applicable). To learn more about the Healthy Air Network and their work, you can watch a recording of the informational webinar, review the presentation slide deck, or refer to the HAN fact sheet or our FAQ sheet.

The Community Health Worker Asthma Home Visiting Learning Community: A Recap

 December 15th marked the last of six sessions for MAAP’s Community Health Worker (CHW) Learning Community for Asthma Home Visiting which provided continuing education and networking opportunities.  Fourteen CHWs  -- all working in the 11 communities prioritized in the Strategic Plan for Asthma in MA participated; these CHWs were certified or seeking MA CHW Certification. We hosted guest speakers – including Bridgette Jones, MD, MSCR ,who discussed achieving justice in asthma care; Jody Kenneally Chase, CPNP, who gave a talk on asthma medications & delivery devices; Carmen Pagan, who spoke about her experience with home assessments and asthma trigger remediation; Shanyn Toulouse, DNP, MEd, RN, NCSN, who spoke about the role of the school nurse in asthma care and opportunities for collaboration with CHWs; and Nathalie Bazil, BSW, CCHW, Kamille M. Carthy, and Shanina Rosado, who promoted various professional development opportunities for CHWs through the MDPH Office of Community Health Workers and the Massachusetts Association of CHWs. Carla Caraballo, CHW and SDOH Program Manager from Lowell Community Health Center, co-facilitated the series, and throughout shared her journey as a CHW working on asthma and a variety of experiences that enriched the series. MAAP thanks all our wonderful guest speakers, as well as all CHWs who attended our sessions, for creating an active and collaborative learning space.

Funding Opportunities for Mass. Schools to Invest in Indoor Air Quality & Heat Resilience

$100M in HVAC Grants Available for MA School Districts

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) will be granting $100 million to school districts to improve ventilation and indoor air-quality to support healthy learning environments (hereinafter the HVAC Grant). Schools with high concentrations of economically disadvantaged students, English learners, and communities disproportionally impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic are given priority for this funding. Grant applications for FY23 are due on Friday, October 28. These funds must be obligated by 2024 and spent by 2026. More information is available here.

If you work in a municipality or are involved in your parent teacher organization or school board, please share this opportunity and the importance of investing in healthy learning environments with your school leadership. If you work in a school district, please consider applying.

If you would like to learn more about this opportunity and others, please visit this article published on the Metropolitan Area Planning Council's website, written by Sharon Ron, MAPC senior public health planner, Paula Giraldo and Geri Medina, Massachusetts Asthma Action Partnership / Health Resources in Action

Holyoke Schools Spotlight: Collaboration Between School Nurses and Custodians

Nurses and custodians are perfect collaboration partners! Even before the pandemic, Cynthia Carbone, MEd, MSN, RN, Director of Health, Wellness, and Nursing for Holyoke Public Schools, and her nursing team worked closely with the facilities team and were looking at how school nurses could work more effectively with facilities management. They ramped this up during COVID – proving to be an invaluable asset to improving conditions for student and staff health within their schools.

Cynthia shared, “Custodians are everywhere in the building – and see things that nurses may not. So, to have a healthy school environment, school nurses and custodians need to interact daily. To help promote this, at the start of each school year the school nurses reach out to each member of the building’s custodial team, introduce themselves to new staff, provide contact information, and reacquaint themselves with returning custodians. Each nurse regularly meets with her lead custodian who is their go-to for facilities concerns. Likewise, nurses are available for consultation with the custodial team. During the pandemic, we created a multidisciplinary checklist for each positive COVID case in the district, and the nurse notified the building principal, custodian, and HR (for staff) and each had action steps to follow. The nurses and custodial staff regularly connect to discuss cleaning procedures and best practices to maintain a healthy school environment. The facilities team is constantly looking to improve practice and has done a lot of work around green cleaning. They are always willing to share information and demonstrate products for the nurses.”

Cynthia continued, “This has been possible because of the generous spirit of our facilities team and their willingness to actively collaborate with health services. The custodial team is our go-to for setting up and conducting our annual flu shot clinics for staff and multiple COVID vaccine clinics that we have held since the spring of 2021. The facilities team members have regularly presented at our school nurse meetings and Districtwide School Community Health Advisory Council. They have spoken about COVID-19 management concerns and mitigation strategies, cleaning products, ventilation, air quality, and other environmental health issues. In turn, I am invited to Senior Custodian meetings to discuss topics of concern or interest. These actions have helped us to build strong relationships and practices. We see our roles as interdependent in keeping schools safe and healthy for students and staff.”

This year, schools face an unusually high flu season, as well as possible COVID resurgences, but Cynthia stated that she’s confident in her team’s ability to tackle this, and much more.

We applaud Holyoke for taking this collaborative approach!

From left to right: Brian Harris, Facilities Manager, and Cynthia Carbone, Director of Health, Wellness, & Nursing

Update on MA Statewide Asthma Strategic Planning

A snapshot of some participants from MAAP Strategic Planning Session 1

Over the past several months, the MA DPH Asthma Prevention and Control Program (APCP) and MAAP, led a planning process to inform the development of the Strategic Plan for Asthma for MA: 2021-2026, facilitated by Health Resources in Action. This plan is meant to provide guidance and inspiration for asthma work focused on prevention and control across the Commonwealth over these five years.

It includes broad goals and strategies focused on four priority areas: schools, housing, outdoor air quality, and clinical care & linkages. Promoting racial and health equity were guiding principles for the plan, designed for the entire state and prioritizing the following communities: Boston, Brockton, Chelsea, Holyoke Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, New Bedford, Southbridge, Springfield, and Worcester. These eleven cities were identified as having the highest burden of asthma in Massachusetts based according to higher asthma hospitalization/ED rates, higher prevalence of COVID-19, and lower ICE scores (Index of Concentrations at the Extremes), a ratio of the concentration of the most privileged to the concentration of the most deprived in a given community.

Many of these strategic planning discussions focused on how we can foster effective partnerships to advance work to address asthma across the state. For example, one objective for outdoor air quality is “By 2024, implement quarterly communications about real time local air quality and related public health threats to the 11 targeted communities and other vulnerable neighborhoods near major sources of mobile/point sources of pollution”. Through this process, MAAP has learned about local monitoring efforts starting and led by community-based organizations with residents. This includes in Chelsea led by GreenRoots, with assistance from the MA Department of Environmental Protection, and in Codman Square led by the Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation and in Lynn, in collaboration with EarthWatch Institute. We look forward to lifting up their efforts, and helping to spread best practices and lessons across the State.

When completed, the plan will be posted on both MA DPH APCP’s and MAAP’s website. We thank everyone who participated and appreciate the level of thoughtfulness and respect put into this process; there were 65 participants, representing more than 40 institutions (community-based organizations, health care, schools and academia, government agencies, etc.), who donated their time and mental energy to develop the plan! After nearly a year of Covid-19 disruption and loss, we are feeling hopeful in the New Year and excited to press forward to tackle this work together.

A Note from MA Asthma Action Partnership

Dear MAAP members,

In the midst of a global pandemic that disproportionately and unfairly targets Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), there has been a broad, national reckoning over racism and police violence following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others. The demonstrations and actions taking place across the country and around the world demand justice for those most harmed by police brutality and other forms of structural racism set in motion centuries ago.

In the aftermath of these killings, racism has been spotlighted as a widespread public health crisis that continues to poison the institutions and systems that are meant to keep us safe and healthy. We see its effects in the inequitable health outcomes across communities of color who live in neighborhoods with poor housing quality and high housing insecurity; go to school in buildings that decay and crumble around them; struggle to obtain care at underfunded community health centers; and live in environments that only grow warmer and more polluted. We at MAAP recognize that both asthma and COVID-19 further expose and aggravate these pre-existing inequities: in the United States, racism is an underlying condition for Covid-19 infections and deaths, and asthma disproportionately burdens our communities of color[1,2].

As we all strive to care for and protect those most vulnerable to the impacts of this layered crisis, we are reminded that advancing health equity and dismantling racist structures is difficult work. Together with our partners, we at MAAP pledge to deepen our efforts to address the social and environmental inequities that exacerbate asthma, especially in communities of color. We stay committed to amplifying and working on equitable strategies for the prevention and management of asthma. And we stand in support of the many organizations and individuals across Massachusetts that lead the fight for racial and economic justice for our communities every single day.

Let us not leap to peace before getting to justice. Now, more than ever, in our schools, homes, and workplaces, our needs must be addressed not by the threat of violence, but by the provision of care.

The following are the words and commitments from Health Resources in Action (HRIA), which coordinates MAAP, and from other MAAP partners over the past weeks:

·       Health Resources in Action (HRiA)

·       Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH)

·       No Menthol. Know Why.

·       Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts (PHIWM)

·       American Lung Association

·       Community Catalyst

·       Clean Water Action

·       Boston Children’s Hospital

[1] https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2018/07/19/asthma-data-bulletin.pdf

[2] https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/10/nation/with-coronavirus-racism-is-underlying-condition/?s_campaign=breakingnews:newsletter

New Resource Released! How to Obtain Free Demonstration Devices for Commonly Used Inhalers for Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Management

Are you a healthcare provider or public health advocate looking to get your hands on a demonstration asthma inhaler device? You’re in luck. MAAP is excited to release a new resource on how healthcare professionals may obtain free demonstration inhaler devices to provide patient education: How to Obtain Free Demonstration Devices for Commonly Used Inhalers for Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Management. This resource includes strategies on how to support the correct use of inhalers and a list of commonly used inhalers, including their respective drug indication, medication category, product website, and contact information to request free demonstration devices.

Several years ago, the MAAP Health Committee - building on objectives in the Strategic Plan for Asthma in MA 2015-2020 - set a goal to elevate best practices and tools in promoting asthma management care in pharmacies, as well as to potentially develop new tools for pharmacists. To learn about existing tools, successes, challenges and barriers, MAAP conducted a series of interviews with pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in different settings (e.g., chain-owned and independent pharmacies, hospitals, etc.). Through this process, MAAP developed a relationship with the MA College of Pharmacy and Health Science (MCPHS University), specifically Tim Hudd, BS, Phard.D., R.Ph, AE-C, Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice who became engaged with MAAP’s work and is now a MAAP member. This asthma demonstration device resource is a result of the groundwork that was laid through this process. In addition to collaborating to create tools, Tim has elevated asthma education for pharmacists at MCPHS University and at their annual continuing education conference.

A big thank you to all those who contributed to the development of this resource!

Access and save a copy of the resource here.

Note: The list of inhalers below is subject to manufacturer availability, which may vary from year to year. However, the contact information listed will be consistently appropriate for obtaining the most up-to-date product information directly from the manufacturer, and for requesting contact with local company representatives.

Member Spotlight: Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH) and Teens Lead @ Work (TL@W)

Teens Lead @ Work (TL@W) peer leaders with their thermometers, trained and ready to collect classroom temperature data.

This summer, MassCOSH’s Teens Lead @ Work Program (TL@W) was featured in the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH) e-newsletter for organizing around the impacts of heat stress in schools. Teens Lead @ Work (TL@W) is a program of MAAP’s partner, the MassCOSH. TL@W helps youth develop organizing skills, connect with other teen workers, and promote safe, healthy work. TL@W chose to tackle heat stress and climate change in Boston schools after fellow students developed rashes, headaches, and dehydration due to extreme heat in their classrooms.

Last year, a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that student performance drops when temperatures rise, with a clear connection between decreased learning and a lack of air-conditioning in classrooms. The impact of heat on student achievement is three times greater for low-income, Black and Hispanic students as for White students.  Environmental health research also shows that extreme heat events – projected to become more and more frequent – can significantly worsen childhood asthma, and are associated with increased hospitalization for asthma attacks.

Ilannysh Rodriguez, a recent Boston high school graduate and TL@W peer leader, has asthma. “We learned about different asthma triggers – clutter, lack of ventilation, poor climate control and indoor air quality – and we realized we could list them looking around our own schools,” she shared. “In Boston, many of the school buildings are older and not kept up to date, with holes in the walls and floors. These collect dust and lead to leaks – and more asthma triggers.”    

“Although you are young, and people don’t think you’re important, you are doing important work. These issues that affect young people, especially young people of color, are not getting the attention they need. Don’t give up.”

— Ilannysh Rodriguez, TL@W Peer Leader

Ilannysh and her fellow TL@W leaders noted that students from low-income communities and students of color are most often affected by these conditions, and by extreme heat. “We’ve had days where the classroom temperature climbs to 100 degrees,” Ilannysh says. At some schools, she recalls, water fountains were non-functional on those same days, and students suffered from dehydration.

TL@W has been working hard on their campaign to address heat stress in Boston schools, building partnerships with school professionals, other students, and the Boston Teachers’ Union. In early June, they testified in support of Bill H.530, an act creating a commission to study allowable temperatures in schools. They’ve been collecting classroom temperature data as part of an in-depth research project supported by a Tufts University Tisch Scholar, as well as developing proposals for policies they see as crucial. “If not air-conditioned classrooms, we think schools should have ‘heat days’ and early dismissal the way they do for snow days,” Ilannysh says. TL@W students know this is possible - in Baltimore, schools without air-conditioned classrooms dismiss students early if room temperatures climb to 85°F by 10:30am. This winter, TL@W will also conduct a comprehensive analysis of school heat policies and strategies around the country to help inform their organizing.

While TL@W’s efforts are local, MassCOSH has received calls from several school districts hoping to replicate their work nationwide. When asked about advice that she would give youth interested in social justice organizing, Ilannysh takes a deep breath before speaking. “Although you are young, and people don’t think you’re important, you are doing important work,” she says. “These issues that affect young people, especially young people of color, are not getting the attention they need. Don’t give up.”  

Launching New Resource! Clearing the Air: An Asthma Toolkit for Healthy Schools

MAAP, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Asthma Prevention and Control Program, and Health Resources in Action are delighted to announce the release of a new resource: Clearing the Air: An Asthma Toolkit for Healthy Schools. This toolkit contains sample policy language, best practices, and curated resources and tools to help schools create an asthma-friendly learning and working environment. Nine policy and practice areas have been identified as target areas to help improve air quality inside and around school buildings:

• School-wide environmental health and safety management

• Green cleaning and environmental purchasing programs

• Integrated pest management

• Leaks and moisture

• Clutter

• Outdoor air pollution

• Fragrance

• Tobacco

• Clinical asthma management in the school setting

Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in childhood. In any given classroom, it is likely that two or three students have asthma, and in larger classrooms and in some urban settings, that number is likely to be even higher. When children experience asthma symptoms, they often stay home from school, or they might have a hard time participating when they are in school. Research shows that children who have a lot of absences in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade are much less likely to read at grade level by the third grade. These students are also four times more likely to drop out of high school. 

Since children spend a lot of their time in school, an asthma-friendly environment means healthier students who are ready to learn. The benefits of an asthma-friendly school can include:

• Better attendance

• Improved academic performance

• Improved focus and physical stamina

• Enhanced student and staff productivity

• Fewer restrictions on participation in physical activities

• Fewer symptoms and medical emergencies

By taking action together, we can help to ensure that all of our students have a better opportunity to thrive in school and beyond. Everyone – including families, school staff, students, and community groups – has an essential role to play. The school community can help by:

• Educating children, parents, and staff about asthma and the school environment

• Identifying and reducing potential asthma triggers in the school

• Developing and implementing policies that create a supportive, asthma-friendly environment

Whether your school is considering a comprehensive wellness policy that includes environmental health and safety, or if you want to start on more modest projects, you’ll find guidance and resources throughout the toolkit – from building administration buy-in to identifying issues around the school to implementing best practices and policies to address the issues. Case studies are also available to show how schools and school districts across MA are making advances to improve the health of students, especially those with asthma. Take action together to make school a place where staff and students can work, learn, and play in the healthiest environment – use the Clearing the Air toolkit for guidance and inspiration.

STAY TUNED! MAAP and the MA DPH are planning a walk-through webinar. We’ll show you how to navigate this toolkit and its resources and discuss different ways to use the toolkit in your own school. More information to come!

SPREAD THE WORD! Click here for our promotion kit, which includes ready-to-share email, web and social media copy as well as graphics to download and send with your messages. We’ve been working hard on this toolkit, and we encourage you to share it with your members and networks!

Family Childcare Providers Learn About Asthma Using: Creating a Healthy Home and Managing Asthma Online Training

MAAP’s Creating a Healthy Home and Managing Asthma is a free, four-part training designed for MA family childcare providers to learn how to maintain healthy childcare environments. Key learning topics include healthy home principles, lead poisoning prevention, and asthma management.

Since the release of the training, it has been used and adapted with great enthusiasm – with 119 Family Childcare Providers trained. Many trainers in the family childcare field are required to provide a certain number of training hours and have used the Creating a Healthy Home and Managing Asthma to supplement their trainings and/or provide trainees an alternative to in-person trainings for more flexibility.

Sharline Del Rosario, a training coordinator at Lowell’s Acre Family Child Care recently used the online training as part of a full day training for family childcare providers.

“This training is completely essential for all family educators to go through. I think it is a wonderful training to go through to not only learn the information for themselves, but to improve the health of the people we work with. I’m going to spread the word about how great it is.”

— Sharline Del Rosario

There were approximately 15 participants and they included a diverse group of family childcare educators, drivers, and systems staff. Sharline used the online training as a learning tool and went through it together with participants, pausing to emphasize key points and answering questions. The training was insightful, easy to follow, and participants became aware of how the home environment can affect a child’s health, and how to identify and prevent asthma triggers. Trainers and participants appreciated how the online training reference local data such as Lawrence and Lowell and make a link between old buildings and health. 

Through the online training, it also became apparent that it could be used to educate parents as well since children can be exposed to asthma triggers in their own homes.

“I shared the training with my daughter whose son suffers from severe asthma. We learned about triggers we did not know existed and it has not only helped us learn how to help him but it has also helped me make sure my daycare is safe for all children entering my home. The information on Lead Poisoning was just as helpful. Thank you for sharing this information!”

— Acre Family Child Care Provider

The online training provides an opportunity to share practical knowledge and improve the health of children in the places where they live, learn and play. Currently, the information is only available in English, but it will be available in Spanish in the future. Please help spread the word about this training! For more information, contact Edgar Duran Elmudesi. 

Member Spotlight: Expansion of the Springfield Healthy Homes Asthma Program

Community Health Workers organize home visits with patients and their families

A Healthy Homes Professional completes a comprehensive home assessment for environmental hazards and if asthma related home repairs/services are identified, Revitalize CDC will make the repairs and provide support

Patients receive educational packet as well as supplies such as anti-allergen pillow/bed protectors, and green cleaning kits.

Carpeted staircase removed as an asthma trigger

Regrettably, Springfield, MA has been designated  the top Asthma Capital for the second year in a row by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. It is one of 100 most challenging place to live in with asthma, in the nation. Many unfavorable circumstances contribute to the greater Springfield area’s high asthma prevalence and burden, including:

• Geographical location in a valley where both pollen and carbon dioxide collect;

• Heavy interstate traffic and commercial pollution;

• Old housing stock;

• Lack of access to short- and long-term healthcare services; and

• Poverty.

The Springfield community has a long history of combating asthma, and over the years, has been able to develop diverse partnerships, combine resources and build capacity to address the high rates of asthma. Most recently, Baystate Health Care Alliance/BeHealthy Partnership ACO received a SHIFT-Care Challenge grant award from the Health Policy Commission to expand the Springfield Healthy Homes Asthma Program. The program’s goal is to improve the quality of life for people living with asthma and reduce asthma health care costs by reducing hospitalization and emergency department visits through implementation of an evidence-based home visiting and home remediation service.

The health and housing sectors have been working together for many years but have not had significant funding to do something at a broader level. This new funding brings partners together to form an innovative collaborative to implement an evidence-based intervention. BeHealthy Partnership, an Accountable Care Organization, is joining together with community organizations from the greater Springfield area to refer patients for the Springfield Healthy Homes Asthma Program’s home education and remediation services. Revitalize Community Development Corporation is the lead housing service provider that will be providing critical repairs and rehabilitation to homes with additional support and services from other community partners. Other partners in the collaborative include:

• University of Massachusetts Medical School – Baystate;

• Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts;

• Pioneer Valley Asthma Coalition;

• Baystate Medical Center’s Pulmonary Rehabilitation Department;

• City of Springfield Office of Housing;

• Springfield Partners for Community Action; and

• Green & Healthy Homes Initiative.

The expansion of the Springfield Healthy Homes Asthma Program will serve 150 families with home-based asthma education and self-management support (e.g., proper use of medications), as well as home assessment and repair for conditions that contribute to asthma flare-ups. The new funding enables Baystate’s Pulmonary Rehabilitation Department to hire two community health workers to conduct the home visits and asthma education. Over the 18-month project, patients will receive 3-4 home visits and families will also receive supplies such as anti-allergen pillows, mattress protectors, and green cleaning kits. BeHealthy Partnership patients who have been hospitalized or have had multiple emergency room visits in the last year for asthma, are eligible for the services.

Springfield has one of the largest and oldest housing stocks with a high need for remediations. The cost of housing repairs and maintenance can be prohibitive for families and overtime the housing stock has significantly deteriorated due to moisture, mold, pests and other housing conditions that can trigger asthma and lead to other health problems. Through the expansion of the Springfield Healthy Homes Asthma Program, the collaborative is hoping to address unhealthy homes as one of the root causes of poor asthma outcomes. Through a series of data collection and evaluation, they are hoping to show the sustainability of this intervention and make the case to keep it going. By leveraging its community assets and persistence in combating poor asthma outcomes, Springfield has become an active leader in mobilizing communities and continues to find innovative ways to improve asthma outcomes for families.

Congratulations Springfield!

Member Spotlight: Parent Asthma Network

October 24, 2018, the first PAN session ABCD Geneva Avenue. Participants heard from Alexa Down, M. ED and Moussa Cisse (ABCD Health and Nutrition Services Managers) about the importance of having healthier options and the role as service managers as it relates to asthma and nutrition at the childcare center. Participants also learned about local food resources such as Fresh Truck, Fair Foods, SNAP, and other affordable food resources in Boston.

December 20, 2018, the PALS’s First Annual Holiday Dinner. The Injury Prevention, Oral Health, Asthma Control and Tobacco Control programs, Health Resources in Action, as well as the Mayor’s Health Line donated 50 gifts to be distributed among the ten families in attendance. The PALs were also presented with certificates of appreciation from the Boston Public Health Commission for their leadership and advocacy.

January 9, 2019, 4th PAN session at the ABCD Geneva site with ten participants. Mrs. Nancy Smith from the Public Health Preparedness office presented to the PAN participants.

March 19, 2019, Quincy Roberts from Office of Fair Housing and Equity spoke to parents about his department and all housing issues.

March 19, 2019, Nathalie Bazil from Healthy Homes, Massachusetts Department of Public Health and JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. (JSI) held a focus group during the Parent Asthma Network session to better understand factors that can affect health and quality of life for persons with asthma. In addition the responses gather from the participants will help to better understand what steps can be taken to prevent and better control asthma, as well as to support those affected by the disease. These action steps might be included the next five-year State Plan for Preventing and Controlling Asthma in MA.

Parents and Youth Taking Control of the Asthma Epidemic in Boston

Background: The Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) created the Parent Asthma Network (PAN) to develop a support network for and between parents/caregivers who may be facing similar successes and challenges in managing asthma. PAN participants can connect with others who live in the same vicinity and increase their ability to provide each other with critical peer support.

Over the decades, BPHC has been a leader in convening community and key stakeholders to address the root causes of Boston’s heavy asthma burden as well as model prevention and control initiatives. Even though there have been tremendous medical advances in asthma control, and much is now known about medical and non-medical ways to prevent and control asthma, there is still opportunity for more to be done. Asthma rates, emergency room visits, hospitalization stays and deaths due to asthma persist at an unacceptably high rate. Asthma remains a complex issue and can be very confusing for anyone to understand and manage. While BPHC, partner agencies and community members continue working to address the systemic and environmental contributors to asthma, we also need to ensure the immediate burden at hand is being addressed.

PAN Overview: Through PAN and related initiatives, BPHC’s goal is to ensure the wide spread of accurate information about asthma, encourage individuals and communities to learn about and use effective asthma management practices, and make use of the numerous resources and supports available throughout Boston. PAN was piloted from the Fall of 2017 to Spring 2018 with great interest and success and continues with funding support from the MA Department of Public Health (MDPH). MDPH and BPHC’s seasoned community health workers (CHWs) provide key mentorship and three experienced Parent Asthma Leaders (PALs) through Health Resources in Action (HRiA) also provide support. To date, PAN has engaged over 150 individuals. BPHC aims to expand the network of parents and support the training of more PALs who can be a resource to their communities and networks.

How PAN Works: PAN is run as facilitated group sessions that focus on key topic areas with guest speakers and opportunities for sharing experiences and ideas. PAN sessions are currently being hosted by the ABCD Head Start Geneva Ave site in Dorchester and East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (run in Spanish).  Each site runs multiple sessions during the academic year and features a range of topics and activities, including asthma basics, asthma medication, asthma and nutrition, asthma and back to school prep, asthma and environmental health, MassHealth/asthma, and emergency preparedness.

During these sessions, participants learn from each other and dialogue with guest speakers from agencies including Boston Inspectional Services, BPHC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and the Mayor’s Health Line, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, and Partners Asthma Center.

A pre/post-quiz is given to participants at the beginning and end of each session to help them in their learning process. An evaluation is conducted at the end of each session to ensure participants are contributing to the design and shape of successful meetings and activities. Participants also get to voice what topics they would like to see at future sessions.

When asked what they found most meaningful about workshops, participants said:

“Now I have a better understanding of the asthma action plan. I find this information useful and appropriate. Thank you.” – PAN participant

“There was time for questions and answers, love this workshop well informed, other parents, much knowledge was shared in this room. Thank you!” – PAN participant

“Great workshop. Very interesting and interesting topic” – PAN participant

PAN was conceived and is coordinated by Nathalie Bazil, BSW, CCHW, Senior CHW and Coordinator for the BPHC Asthma Prevention and Control Program. The three PALs from HRiA are also instrumental in the success of PAN. The PALs are dedicated members of the community who took a stand over 20 years ago to ensure the city was taking responsibility for the high asthma rates in Boston. Since then, the PALs have been part of efforts and conversations with a range of key city agencies and sit on numerous advisory boards. Through PAN, BPHC hopes to see a new generation of PALs who can be mentored by the current representatives. PAN has been a tremendous success, and we hope to see it only expand further into communities as an effective model for collective awareness and action. BPHC is currently working with partners on a new network for and by youth and young adults. For more information contact asthma@bphc.org.