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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Jeanette Donald, MS¹, Katherine Pruitt¹, and Jill Markowitz, MPH². (1) American Lung Association, 1150 18th St NW, STE 900, Washington, DC 20036, 202-785-3355, jdonald@lungusadc.org, (2) Markowitz Consulting, 50 Murray Street, #522, New York, NY 10007

The American Lung Association's Asthma-Friendly Schools Initiative (AFSI) was developed utilizing a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The goal of the program is to build the capacity of communities and local schools to plan and implement comprehensive asthma management programs utilizing the coordinated school health model. AFSI is an innovative approach allowing communities to address asthma in schools in a comprehensive, proactive manner. Lung Associations, asthma coalitions and other community partners work in collaboration with the existing school structure to plan and implement needed policy changes and educational interventions. This partnership approach leverages existing community resources and tools, thereby reducing the burden on the schools. The Asthma-Friendly Schools Toolkit (Toolkit) was developed as a planning and resource guide that includes existing evidence-based strategies, needs assessment tools, samples plans and other materials. To determine the effectiveness of the approach using the Toolkit, the American Lung Association, with funding from CDC and Kaiser Permanente, initiated an AFSI pilot project, including an evaluation. Eight local asthma coalitions, working in partnership with local schools, were funded to plan and implement AFSI in their communities. The pilot project included one year for program planning (January 2004-December 2004) and a second year and a half for implementation (January 2005 to May 2006). Findings from the planning year were process based and demonstrated the value of the Toolkit in assisting asthma coalitions in planning strategies. Evaluation of the implementation phase is ongoing and will be completed in June of 2006.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the concepts behind the Asthma-Friendly Schools Initiative
• Form effective community-based partnerships to address asthma in schools
• Use the AFSI Toolkit to maximize available resources
• Apply the lessons learned from the AFSI pilot to local community activities

Keywords: Asthma, School Health

Related Web page: www.lungusa.org/afsi

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation