Asthma Community Engagement Project

Asian mother helps her daughter gets assistance with asthma inhaler spacer while setting on sofa in living room at home.

Health outcomes for asthma remain high in Ohio and nationally. Insights from Ohio families about social conditions impacting wellness, health care, and social service delivery models, as well as policies and practices, is critical to understanding what changes are needed to address health inequities and help families thrive. Asthma is a leading chronic illness among children and youth in the United States. On average, in a classroom of 30 children, about three are likely to have asthma, and many of those children have had an asthma attack or episode during the preceding year1. According to the CDC, asthma is a leading cause of school absenteeism. Asthma cannot be cured but it can be controlled, which will lead to a better quality of life.

Asian mother helps her daughter gets assistance with asthma inhaler spacer while setting on sofa in living room at home.The Ohio Department of Health Asthma Program concentrates efforts to expand programmatic strategies to target high-risk populations and targets strategies in priority counties. The targeted counties have been identified as a priority due to the child emergency department and hospitalization rate for asthma being greater than the Ohio rate of 83.5 per 10,000 child population.  These counties are Ashtabula, Columbiana, Cuyahoga, Erie, Franklin, Hamilton, Lorain, Lucas, Mahoning, Montgomery, and Summit.

The Ohio Department of Health Asthma Program will organize a local community event specifically tailored for minority populations. This locally planned and designed event will take place in priority counties, aligning with the CDC's six strategies for addressing asthma within the priority counties.  

The EXHALE strategies represent the best available evidence to control asthma.

The six strategies in EXHALE include:

  • E - Education on asthma self-management.
  • X - Extinguishing smoking and secondhand smoke.
  • H - Home visits for trigger reduction and asthma self-management education.
  • A - Achievement of guidelines-based medical management.
  • L - Linkages and coordination of care across settings.
  • E - Environmental policies and best practices to reduce asthma triggers indoor, outdoor or occupational sources.

The goal of this initiative is to support the communities that have the highest burden of asthma. Community and providers will receive education and resources on asthma. In addition, it will support participation and attendance to Listening Sessions in the 11 priority counties. Community engagement listening sessions will also be held by ODH during the funding period. The second goal is to host community dialogue discussions in each county to identify what resources locally support the CDC EXHALE strategies. Through these discussions, counties will identify gaps and develop a plan to address those community needs.

 

Projects Final Reports

Dayton & Montgomery County Public Health
Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition
Summit County Public Health
Toledo-Lucas County Health Department  

 

1Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Asthma

A Collaborative Approach

The Asthma Community Outreach and Engagement Project plans to engage in a focused, multidisciplinary, collaborative approach to health improvement. This will be done by coordinating with internal and external stakeholders that serve groups that are disproportionately affected by disparities increasing their asthma prevalence.

Asthma Listening Session Report