DEPARTMENT: Health
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Jennifer Herriott, MPH
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT:
A briefing on the City’s new asthma home teaching program: SA Kids B.R.E.A.T.H.E. - San Antonio Kids Building Relationships, Effective ASTHMA Teaching in Home Environments, and their Advisory Council.
SUMMARY:
The San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (Metro Health) will provide a presentation on the progress made in developing and creating this new asthma home teaching program. The program’s Medical Advisor and Chair of the SA Kids BREATHE Advisory Council will also provide a presentation on the contributions of the Advisory Council.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Asthma is a leading chronic illness among children and adolescents in the United States, affecting 1 in 12 children (8.3%). Poor and minority children are disproportionately affected by asthma. In Texas, asthma affects 11.7% of children. Two-thirds of Texas children with asthma have limitation in their daily activities and more than half miss 1-3 days of school due to their illness, resulting in overall poorer school performance. Many of these children are then set up for academic failure as they progress through school. Texas Department of State Health Services reported that Bexar County’s 2015 inpatient childhood asthma hospitalization rate was 177% higher than the Texas average. The average cost of a single inpatient treatment for asthma is estimated at greater than $3,400 per child. Data confirms the crisis overall, but fails to reveal the true impact of this disease on individual lives of children and their families. Numerous studies confirm the tremendous physical, psychological, financial, and quality of life impacts that children with asthma and their families must manage.
The high rates of local childhood asthma hospitalizations led the South Texas Asthma Coalition to research best practices across the country for a home visiting program in San Antonio. They worked with the City of San Antonio and Metro Health to start this new program. Twelve of their members volunteer to serve on the SA Kids BREATHE Advisory Council.
The SA Kids BREATHE program’s goals are to improve the quality of life of high-risk San Antonio children, ages 3-17, and their families impacted by asthma through home visits and collaboration with the child’s health care provider and school nurse. The program addresses asthma health literacy; reducing asthma triggers including environmental hazards; assisting with social disparities of health that are worsening symptoms; and connecting participants with healthcare providers and the school. It is expected that for the participants of this program we will help them achieve asthma control, reduce asthma hospitalizations, and reduce missed school days and caregiver workdays due to asthma exacerbations.
Metro Health will discuss progress made in developing and creating this new asthma home teaching program. The program’s Medical Advisor and Chair of the SA Kids BREATHE Advisory Council will also provide a presentation on the contributions made by the members of the Advisory Council.
Metro Health and the SA Kids BREATHE Advisory Council have created a logic model, a process flow, developed metrics, created both baseline questionnaires (for different age groups) in English and Spanish, are obtaining supplies to support families, developed a partner and resource list, hired staff and completed initial training. The program’s Asthma Supervisor and Community Health Workers have begun seeing patients in our community. The SA Kids BREATHE Advisory Council members are assisting the SA Kids BREATHE team with increasing community awareness of this program. In addition, the EPA Green and Healthy Homes Initiative technical assistance grant is supporting stakeholder engagement, program design, data collection, economic analysis, and evaluation planning.
ISSUE:
Metro Health along with the SA Kids BREATHE Advisory Council Chair would like the opportunity to brief the Community Health and Equity Committee about the SA Kids BREATHE program, the SA Kids BREATHE Advisory Council, and the progress both have made to develop and create this new program.
ALTERNATIVES:
This item is for briefing purposes only.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact at this time.
RECOMMENDATION:
This item is for briefing purposes only.