Originally published October 13 2005
Pennsylvania program will help inner city kids with asthma
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Healthy Home Resources recently started AT HOME (Asthma Trigger Home Evaluation Program), which will help 150 Pittsburgh families through 2006 by having inspectors look for evidence of asthma triggers in homes.
The house was surveyed for major dust collectors like carpets, picture frames, pillows and stuffed animals.
Pest control inspectors looked for evidence of cockroaches, mice and other infestation.
They even tested the lung capacity of 10-year-old Donte, a fifth-grader at Allegheny Traditional Academy who has spent way too much time in the hospital fighting for his life.
The recent visit was part of a new program aimed at helping inner-city children like Donte who have been the hardest hit by asthma, the most common chronic childhood disease.
Because of the cost in medical expenses, lost school days and most important, children's lives, national health officials are making prevention and management of asthma a priority.
Cases among children in Allegheny County have more than doubled in the past decade; nationally one of every 13 school children has the inflammatory disease that restricts breathing.
It begins with a medical exam at Allegheny General Hospital, where children are given a skin test to determine what is causing the allergies.
Once the results are in, program directors develop a remedial plan and provide the tools to control and reduce triggers.
Among these may be dehumidifiers to control mold, high-powered vacuum cleaners for dust, allergen-proof covers for bedding, pest control and high-efficiency particulate air filters.
Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette Nicole Feczko, right, takes an air sample on the front porch of the Marcus home as Carol Delfino Anderson, left, of Healthy Home Resources and Misty Williams of Clean Corps measure and record temperature and humidity readings on the steps below.
Spacers, which are hollow tubes, should be used with inhalers to disperse medication more slowly so it has a better chance of getting deep into the lungs.
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