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Asthma Awareness and Education Partnerships
In Summer 2006, MDH awarded small grants to seven organizations within the state.
These organizations were interested in helping the MDH to raise asthma awareness in their communities
and increase self-management skills in asthma patients.
| Alliance Charitable Foundation | Holly Springs | Marshall County |
| The Bethesda Project | Hattiesburg | Forrest County |
| Coastal Family Health Center | Biloxi | Harrison & Jackson Counties |
| Kingdom Builders Ministries | Jackson | Hinds County |
The Partnership for a
Healthy Wayne & Clarke County | Waynesboro | Wayne & Clarke Counties |
| The Pearson Foundation | Pearl | Rankin County |
Southeast Mississippi
Rural Health Initiative | Hattiesburg | Forrest County |
Emergency Department Discharge Instructions for Asthma
Since the State Asthma Plan's completion, the Department of Health's asthma program reviewed it to select a few priority activities. Developing a set of standard emergency room discharge instructions for asthma was chosen to help reduce the rates of emergency department visits for asthma in the long run.
A letter to hospitals along with a set of emergency discharge instructions (based on the Asthma Initiative of Michigan's) was developed in September 2006 for review by a panel of Asthma Coalition members with healthcare expertise.
Asthma Coalition members also helped develop a set of asthma discharge instructions for inpatient hospital visits. Mississippi's discharge instructions
include the American Lung Association's Asthma Action Plan form to encourage patients to follow up with their doctors.
Hospital staff may download these discharge instructions and insert their hospital's logo, then provide them to their asthma patients.
In the News
Studies Help Emergency Departments Break Cycle of Dependence in Children's Asthma
Rober Wood Johnson Foundation research finds emergency department-based intervention can reduce return visits for chronic disease by 40 percent.
Early and consistent education during and after a visit to the emergency department is the key to successful long-term management of pediatric asthma, says recent research supported by the RWJF.
November 2006 RWJF News Release
Asthma Surveillance
The MDH conducts asthma surveillance in a variety of ways. We collect data on the number of people that have asthma in our state, die from asthma, and whose asthma is severe enough or so poorly managed that they must visit a hospital.
Data collection, analysis, and reporting on asthma are all done to help describe the effect of asthma on our state's citizens and our healthcare systems. This information helps us to plan appropriate programs and to know if specific programs are having the expected effects over time.
Upcoming Activities
- Volunteering: Staff use their time to help the American Lung Association raise funds for education and research through Asthma Walk (www.asthmawalk.org).
- Child care: Cooperating with MDH's regulation and licensure office to update child care licensure requirements around asthma.
- Expansion: Coordinating with the American Lung Association of Mississippi to promote expansion of the Asthma Coalition of Mississippi.
- Training: Developing training and continuing education programs for healthcare providers and local Emergency Management Agencies on asthma/respiratory disease and disaster preparedness. (This idea was conceived by Asthma Coalition members in the McComb area, following Hurricane Katrina. Mississippi is the first state to address this issue.)
- Schools: Collaborating with school health advocates to further develop a Mississippi school asthma intervention: the Asthma Buddy System. (This idea was conceived by Asthma Coalition members in our Coast ACM.) Once created, the intervention will be tested in selected schools.
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