May 1 - World Asthma Day and May 29- Celebrate Fresh Air

Pioneer Valley Asthma Coalition

May 1- World Asthma Day at the Statehouse!

Making Asthma Uncommon in the Commonwealth

Join us at the Massachusetts State House on Tuesday, May 1, 2018, for this year's Massachusetts Asthma Action Partnership Summit. The summit will provide education on work done by School Nurses and Community Health workers to address asthma at school and at home. In addition we'll learn about efforts to tackle environmental exposures and climate change, which impact people with asthma.

Speakers include:

Rep Aaron Vega of Holyoke
City Councilor Adam Gomez of Springfield
Ana Jaramillo and Gri Saex from the Healthy Holyoke and the Pioneer Valley Asthma Coalition
Sylvia Brandt of UMass Amherst

Making Asthma Uncommon in the Commonwealth:

Commemorating World Asthma Day

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

9:45 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Massachusetts State House, Room 428

Lunch will be provided

More details at Maasthma.org

To prepare for these meetings, MAAP is sponsoring this webinar:

Civics 101: Meeting with your Lawmakers:

Thursday, April 27th from 2 – 3

May 29: Celebrate Fresh Air & Asthma Awareness Month

FREE, light dinner included

Spacers and microfiber cloths to first 20 families,

Raffle for a green cleaning kit .

Date : Tuesday, May 29th, 2018

Time : 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. FREE, light dinner included, free spacers and microfiber cloths to first 20 families, raffle for a green cleaning kit.

Location : UMASS Center Springfield, 1500 Main Street

Learn about efforts to improve air quality in Springfield and the Pioneer Valley through the Fresh Air Project. Many children are thought to have asthma because of exposure to environmental pollutants. Dr. Krystal Pollitt of UMass is piloting the use of the FRESH AIR WRISTBAND identify sources of exposures in the child's physical environment, including their home, school as well as indoor and outdoor community spaces. She will report on her work with Renaissance school students and Springfield Healthy Homes asthma patients.

The event will include demonstrations of:

Green cleaning products
Cooking techniques to lower air pollution in your kitchen
New ways to measure lung irritation to air pollution
Correct use of inhaler

RSVP

In the News!

Springfield ranks high in ozone and allergy problems

The American Lung Association just released the new State of the Air report. Springfield receives a D for ozone, which as ALA says, is like a sunburn on your lungs.

In addition, Asthma and Allergy Foundation released its list of Allergy Capitals and Springfield again ranks poorly: 11th worst in the county, worse than last year when Springfield was 20th.

Learn how Springfield ranks on air quality
Learn what you can do about allergies

Upcoming Training

May 14: Training for CHWs: Helping Teens Manage their Asthma

While teens are becoming increasingly independent, they still need help and support as they learn to take on greater responsibility in managing their asthma. We will discuss strategies for educating and communicating with teens as well as the challenges for managing their asthma.

Learning Objectives:

Understand psychosocial development of adolescence.
Appreciate the unique issues that influence medication adherence in teens with asthma.
Learn about co-morbidities among teens with asthma.
Develop strategies for improving asthma management for teens.

DPH’s Asthma Prevention and Control Program is offering a teen module for Asthma Home Visiting CHWs on Monday, May 14th from 9:30am - 4:30pm at the Center for Health Impact (35 Harvard Street, Worcester MA). Please reach out to Ashley Stewart ( Ashley.Stewart@state.ma.us ) with any questions.

Pioneer Valley Asthma Coalition | 413.794.7600 | pioneervalleyasthmacoalition@gmail.com

pvasthmacoalition.org

Convened by Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts