May is just around the corner, and that means asthma is once again taking its place on the national and international stage. The American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC) will be celebrating Allergy and Asthma Month here in the U.S., and World Asthma Day is coming up May 1.
As we have for several years now, the AARC will be providing free asthma screenings on Capitol Hill during Asthma Awareness Day, which this year is scheduled for May 2.
Working with colleagues from the Allergy & Asthma Network/Mothers of Asthmatics, AARC representative Tom Striplin, MEd, RRT, is coordinating the event, which will give respiratory therapists the chance to network with key Congressional staff and even some legislators, who will come by to get tested and learn more about the need to raise awareness of asthma and the role respiratory therapists play in caring for people with the condition.
On the world stage, numerous activities are planned, and respiratory therapists are encouraged to get into the act. Although the day is coming up fast, there's still time to plan a last minute activity, and the sponsor of World Asthma Day, the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA), has these great resources to help you get started:
-- Download the GINA World Asthma Day press release and customize it with comments from RTs, then circulate it among local media. Great ideas on customizing the press release for your own community can be found here. (Note: the press release is embargoed until May 1, so be sure to include the embargo date on your release.)
-- Set up a bulletin board in your facility with information about World Asthma Day, asthma control, and maybe even some children's drawings about controlling their asthma.
-- Make a banner with the World Asthma Day 2007 theme, "You Can Control Your Asthma." Or, print and distribute World Asthma Day materials, including posters and handouts.
-- Use the Internet to get the message out by posting on your blog, sending an e-mail to friends and family with links to educational materials such as those found on the GINA web site, or highlighting World Asthma Day on your organization's web site.
You can also find lots of great resources on asthma for patients and families on the AARC's consumer web site, www.yourlunghealth - including our new online magazine devoted entirely to allergies and asthma, Allergy & Asthma Health.
To see how people all over the world celebrated the day last year, check out this slide show from GINA.
www.aarc